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LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT  OK 


Received 
A  c  -cessions  No  . 


i8»J 


Shelf  No. 


MKMOKIAL    ADDRHSSKS 


UFK  AND  CIIARA(TKIi 


THOMAS  II.  HKRNDON 

h 

(A   KKI'KMSKVl'ATIVK  KKOM  ALABAMA). 


•i  I  r.  i  1:1  i<   i\    i  HI 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  AND  IN  THE  SENATE, 


FORTY-EIGHTH    CONGRESS,    FIRST    SESSION. 


PUBLISHED  BY  OKMKK  OF  r<)X<;i:i>s 


WASHINGTON: 

UOVKRNMKNT     I'KINTINU    OKFICK, 

I  --  I. 


JOINT  RESOLUTION  to  print  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  copies  of  eulogies  on  Thomas 
H.  Ilerndon,  late  a  Representative  in  Congress. 

Jlesolred  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  be  printed  of  the  eulogies  delivered 
in  Congress  upon  the  late  Thomas  II.  Herndon,  a  Representative-elect  in  the 
Forty-eighth  Congress  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  twelve  thousand  five  hun 
dred  copies,  of  which  throe  thousand  copies  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  Senate, 
and  nine  thousand  five  hundred  for  the  use  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
And  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  directed  to  have 
printed  a  portrait  of  the  said  Thomas  II.  Herndon  to  accompany  said  eulo 
gies,  and  for  the  purpose  of  engaving  and  printing  said  portrait  the  sum  of 
five  hundred  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary,  is  hereby  ap 
propriated  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

Approved,  May  3,  18H4 


ADDRESSES 


DI.AIII  01-  THOMAS  II.  HERNDON. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  IKH'SE. 


IN  THK  HOFSK  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

l><;r,nb<r  "),  18S.-J. 

Mr.  JOXKS,  of  Alabama.  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  my  painful  duty  to 
announce  the  death  of  my  pwlm-ssor,  lion.  THOMAS  II.  HKKNDON, 
which  occurred  on  the  2Sth  day  of  March  last,  at  his  homo  in  Mobile, 
Ala.  'At  some  future  time  I  shall  ask  that  a  day  be  set  aside  for 
the  consideration  of  appropriate  obituary  resolutions.  I  now  offer 
the  resolution  which  I  send  to  the  desk. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 


mf,  That  tliis  House  has  heard  with  profound  regret  of  the  death  of 
Hon.  THOMAS  H.  HKKNDON,  late  a  Kepresrntative-eleet  front  the  State  of 
Alabama. 

AYxo/m/,  That,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  this 
House  tin  now  adjourn. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to;  and  accordingly 

(at  12  o'clock  and  4<>  minutes  p.  m.)  the  House  adjourned. 


4      LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

MARCH  12,  1884. 

Mr.  JONES,  of  Alabama.  1  ask  unanimous  consent  that  Satur 
day,  the  12th  clay  of  April,  be  fixed  as  the  time  for  the  delivering 
of  tributes  to  the  memory  of  the  late  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON,  late 
a  Representative-elect  from  the  State  of  Alabama. 

There  was  no  objection,  and  it  was  so  ordered. 


APRIL  12,  1884. 

The  SPEAKER.  By  resolution  of  the  House  this  day  at  2  o'clock 
was  assigned  for  the  offering  of  resolutions  expressive  of  regret  at 
the  death  of  the  late  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON,  a  Representative- 
elect  of  this  House.  That  hour  has  now  arrived. 

Mr.  JONES,  of  Alabama.  I  offer  the  resolution  which  I  send  to 
the  desk. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolred,  That  this  House  has  hoard  with  deep  regret  of  the  deatli  of 
THOMAS  II.  HERNDON, late  Representative-elect  to  this  House  from  the  State 
of  Alabama. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  testimony  to  his  memory,  the  officers  and  members  of 
this  House  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  the  space  of  thirty 
days. 

Resolved,  That  a-  copy  of  this  resolution  be  transmitted  by  the  Clerk  of  this 
House  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolred,  That  the  Clerk  be,  directed  to  communicate  a  copy  of  these  pro 
ceedings  to  the  Senate,  and  that,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  deceased, 
this  House  do  now  adjourn. 


Address  of  Mr.  JONES,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  As  Colonel  HERNDON'S  successor  in  this  House 
it  becomes  my  duty,  as  his  friend  it  is  my  privilege,  to  pay  a  humble 
tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory.  His  well-known  modesty  and 
his  aversion  to  everything  like  ostentation  forbid  that  I  should  in 
dulge  in  the  language  of  extravagant  praise  so  common  on  an  oc 
casion  like  this.  I  shall,  therefore,  in  what  I  have  to  say  simply 
call  attention  to  a  character  of  rare  symmetry  and  completeness, 


A  i)  in;  ESS  or  J/A*.  JONKS,  (>/•'  A  LA  HA  MA.  5 

and  endeavor  to  liold  up  to  public  view  the  record  of  a  lite  full  of 
honors  and  full  of  usefulness. 

THOMAS  II.  HKUNDON  was  a  native  of  Alabama.  He  was  edu 
cated  in  the  schools  and  at  the  University  of  that  State.  After 
reading  law  at  Harvard  University  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  thereafter  devoted  his  life  and  his  talents  to  the  service  of  his 
people.  He  was  several  times  a  meml>er  of  the  legislature.  II<- 
was  a  delegate  to  two  of  the  most  important  conventions  ever  held 
in  the  State.  During  the  late  war  he  was  colonel  of  an  Alabama 
regiment,  and  was  several  times  severely  wounded  in  battle.  His 
command  was  engaged  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  at  Chickamauga, 
where  he  received  a  wound  which  was  at  the  time  supposed  to  be 
mortal. 

In  1872  he  was  earnestly  supported  by  his  party  friends  as  can 
didate  for  the  office  of  governor.  His  friends,  who  were  numerous 
and  devoted  to  him,  justly  considered  him  worthy  to  represent  Al 
abama  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  frequently  and 
zealously  supported  him  for  that  exalted  position.  He  was  thrice 
returned  to  represent  the  Mobile  district  in  this  House.  After  a 
long  and  honorable  career  of  public  service,  on  the  28th  of 
March,  1883,  only  a  few  days  after  his  term  of  service  in  this 
Congress  commenced,  he  died  at  his  home  in  Mobile,  in  the  bosom 
of  his  family,  and  in  the  midst  of  constituents  who  were  all  his 
friends. 

It  was  my  good  fortune,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  know  Colonel  HKKN- 
DOX  well.  I  knew  him  at  the  bar,  and  in  public  and  private  life. 
He  was  a  representative  man.  He  was  a  type  of  the  best  elements 
of  his  State.  Always  and  everywhere  he  was  u  gentleman.  Horn 
in  Alabama,  he  had  grown  with  her  growth.  He  had  fought  and 
sntli-red  with  his  people  in  war,  and  in  }>eaee  he  had  labored  to  re 
store  the  blessings  of  good  government.  He  was  thoroughly 
identified  with  the  people  of  Alabama  by  birth,  by  association,  and 
by  common  pursuits  and  common  sufferings.  He  knew  their 
wants,  and  was  in  warm  sympathy  with  their  purposes  and  their 
expirations.  Hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  people  of  Ala 
bama  dc-ired  that  his  abilities  should  not  be  confined  to  the  bar. 


6  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

Had  he  lived,  it  was  the  hope  of  his  friends  that  his  influence  in 
public  affairs  should  not  be  confined  to  the  limits  of  a  Congres 
sional  district,  but  might  sweep  out  into  broader  fields  of  useful 
ness. 

Colonel  HERNDON  was  a  model  soldier,  illustrating  that  rare 
combination  of  courage  and  gentleness  which  immortalized  Sir 
Philip  Sidney — 

Mild  in  manner,  fair  in  favor,  sweet  iu  temper,  fierce  in  light. 

And  in  all  the  positions  of  trust  to  which  he  was  elevated  in 
civil  life  he  exhibited  the  same  modesty  and  courage  that  had  ren 
dered  him  conspicuous  in  the  field.  He  was  true  at  all  times  to 
his  convictions  and  never  swerved  from  the  path  of  duty. 

In  private  life  Colonel  HERNDON  was  modest  as  a  woman,  gentle 
as  charity,  and  possessed  a  genial  magnetism  that  attracted  men  and 
bound  them  to  him  "as  with  hooks  of  steel."  While  he  lived 
laborious  days  he  did  not  scorn  the  delights  of  life.  But  it  was  in 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  home  circle  that  his  social  nature  shone 
with  the  purest  luster.  Upon  his  hearthstone  the  fires  of  domestic 
happiness  always  burned  brightly.  In  his  home  peace  and  love 
were  enthroned;  there  he  found  an  incentive  to  his  ambition  and 
rest  from  his  public  labors.  Learned  and  successful  as  a  lawyer, 
brave  and  chivalrous  as  a  soldier,  enlightened  as  a  statesman,  sin 
gularly  fortunate  in  all  his  family  relations,  his  life  was  blessed  with 
a  larger  share  of  happiness  and  brightened  with  more  of  "sweetness 
and  light"  than  usually  fall  to  the  lot  of  mortals. 

I  will  be  followed  by  other  gentlemen  whose  remarks  will  show 
in  what  high  estimation  Colonel  HEKNDON  was  held  by  his  fellow- 
Congressmen.  It  was  my  desire,  and  it  would  have  been  highly 
gratifying  to  the  family  of  our  departed,  friend,  that  to-day's  obse 
quies  should  have  been  graced  by  the  taste  and  eloquence  of  the 
gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr.  Cox],  but  I  am  this  moment  in 
receipt  of  a  letter  from  him  informing  me  of  his  being  confined  to 
his  bed  by  sickness.  In  this  letter  he  incloses  to  me  a  letter  ad 
dressed  to  him  by  Mr.  John  Bigclow,  formerly  our  distinguished 


r   Mi;.    rui;.\l  J,   <>!•'  ALAHAMA.  1 

minister  to    Krancc,   which  contains  sentiments  so  appropriate  to 

this  occasion  and  >o  fitly  illustrating  the  utilities  of  occasions  like 
this  that   I  send  it  to  IK:  read  at  the  desk. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Al'HIL   10,    1HMJ. 

I  >r  \  i:  MK.  Cox  :  Until  to-day  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  running  through 
the  memorial  addresses  which  yon  were  good  enough  to  send  me  and  for  which 
please  accept  my  cordial  thanks.  1  thank  you  not  only  for  sending  them  tonic 
IHI!  for  uttering  them.  Any  man  who  docs  or  .says  anything  to  cultivate  and 
cherish  a  respect  among  our  people  for  their  benefactors  gives  power  It)  the 
Government,  ctlicacy  to  the  laws,  and  new  guarantees  to  public  order.  In 
doing  all  this  he  in  ftOORMpOHdinf  decree  checks  and  discourages  the  safanic 
spirit  of  detraction  and  irreverence  with  which  the  privileges  of  a  free  pres.s 
are  always  conditioned. 

Mortuary  eloquence  is  neither  history  nor  biography  nor  criticism,  but  the 
commendation  in  high  places  of  those  virtues  which  should  illustrate  public 
life  helps  to  elevate  and  sustain  the  national  standard  of  otlicial  duty,  and  in 
that  respect  answers  a  purpose  as  important  perhaps  as  if  it  embodied  the  full 
ness,  the  accuracy,  and  the  discrimination  of  all  three.  The  higher  we  raise 
the  popular  standard  the  more  will  the  people  find  to  admire  and  respect  in 
those  who  have  had  a  part  in  shaping  the  history  of  their  country. 

The  taste  and  skill  with  which  you  have,  decorated  the  tombs  of  your  de 
parted  friends  one  at  least  of  your  readers  gratefully  appreciates. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

JOHN  ItlUKLOW. 


Address  of  Mr.  FORNEY,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  It  was  my  good  fortune  during  the  life  of  my 
dec-eased  colleague,  Hon.  THOMAS  H.  HERXDOX,  to  be  numbered 
among  his  friends.  We  had  known  each  other  for  more  than  a 
third  of  a  century.  During  this  long  period  our  relations  had 
been  the  most  cordial,  friendly,  and  intimate.  What  [  have  to  say 
upon  this  sad  and  solemn  occasion  I  know  but  voices  the  general 
sentiment  of  the  people  of  his  State  from  the  mountains  to  the  (Julf. 
No  citizen  of  Alabama  from  its  organization  as  a  State  was  more 
beloved,  esteemed,  or  respected.  He  was  a  native  of  Alabama,  born 
and  raised  in  the  county  of  Greene,  the  most  l>eautiful  section  of 
the  South,  lying  in  the  heart  of  the  cotton-belt,  with  its  broad  acres 
and  fertile  fields. 


8      LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  Ob'  TMOMAS  If.  HERN  DON. 

My  colleague  was  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  a  refined  and 
highly  cultivated  community.  He  had  all  the  advantages  of  learn 
ing  that  the  country  afforded.  He  received  a  classical  education  at 
his  State  university;  after  graduation  entered  the  law  school  of 
Cambridge,  Mass,  lie  commenced  his  professional  career  in  the 
city  of  Mobile.  His  education,  training,  and  natural  ability  rap 
idly  secured  for  him  a  high  position  at  the  Mobile  bar,  then  as  well 
as  now  noted  for  the  number  of  learned,  prominent,  and  distin 
guished  lawyers. 

THOMAS  H.  HKRNDON  was  a  true  Southerner;  a  representative 
man  of  the  South;  the  soul  of  honor;  chivalrous,  polished,  and 
courtly  in  manners;  kind  and  generous  in  spirit;  conservative  in 
temper  and  action  ;  considerate  of  the  feelings  of  others,  but  brave  in 
principle  and  true  to  every  trust  confided  in  him.  He  had  occupied 
many  prominent  positions  in  Alabama.  The  people  of  Mobile, 
when  he  was  quite  young — in  1857 — knowing  his  great  worth,  ap 
preciating  his  ability,  integrity,  and  high  character,  elected  him  to 
the  legislature.  During  the  great  excitement  which  pervaded  the 
South  in  I860  he  was  elected  a  delegate  from  Greene  County  to  the 
convention  known  as  the  secession  convention  of  Alabama.  He 
took  a  prominent  position  in  that  body.  The  result  of  that  con 
vention  was  the  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  secession,  on  the  llth 
of  January,  18(51,  which  separated  Alabama  from  the  Federal 
Union.  My  colleague  voted  for  that  ordinance.  He  was  one  of 
those  who  honestly  and  conscientiously  believed  it  was  right.  So 
believing,  when  the  hour  came  for  action,  thoroughly  in  feeling  and 
sympathy  with  his  people,  he  joined  the  Confederate  army.  By  his 
valor,  coolness,  and  efficiency  in  camp  and  field  he  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  colonel.  He  had  the  entire  confidence  of  the  officers 
and  men  of  his  regiment;  upon  many  fields  of  battle  won  the  ad 
miration  of  his  general,  who  on  several  occasions  mentioned  him  in 
his  reports  of  engagements  with  the  enemy  for  his  bravery  and  gal 
lantry  upon  the  field. 

During  the  war  he  was  twice  wounded  so  severely  that  he  could 
with  credit  and  honor  to  himself  have  retired  from  the  army  ;  yet  so 
soon  as  his  wounds  were  healed,  like  a  true  patriot,  he  would  re- 


. I /*/*/,'/•>•>•  O/-'  MI{.  F01i\KY,  OF  ALABAMA.  {.) 

turn  to  his  command.  Tin*  re  lie  remained  to  the  clone  of  the  war, 
until  lii>  chief  surrendered  and  the  must;  which  lie  so  nobly  and 
gallantly  espoused  was  h»st.  The  war  over,  his  fortune  destroyed 
and  gone,  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  soon  took 
rank  with  the  leading  lawyers  of  his  State-.  The  people  of  Mobile 
again  called  him  from  private  life — elected  him  as  a  delegate  in 
187")  to  the  constitutional  convention  of  Alabama.  No  one  dele 
gate'  took  a  more  active  part  in  that  convention  than  he  did  or  had 
more  to  do  in  the  formation  of  the  present  constitution  of  Alabama. 

In  1870-'77  he  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature  of  his  State, 
and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  members  of  that  body,  occu 
pying  the  most  prominent  positions  and  taking  an  active  part  in 
the  discussion  of  all  important  measures.  In  1878  he  was  chosen 
a  memlHT  to  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  from  the  first  district  of 
Alabama.  He  had  not  sought  the  position.  At  the  time  of  his 
nomination  he  wsis  actively  engaged  in  his  profession,  and  was  fast 
regaining  his  lost  fortune.  The  people  called  him  and  he  accepted 
the  trust  tendered.  His  course  in  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  met 
the  approval  of  his  constituents,  and  he  was  re-elected  to  the 
Forty-seventh  and  Forty-eighth  Congresses,  serving  with  distinc 
tion  and  ability  upon  the  Committees  of  Foreign  A  flairs  and 
Commerce. 

Hut,  Mr.  Speaker,  he  was  not  permitted  to  take  his  seat  in  this 
Congress.  After  a  long  and  severe  illness,  with  intense.-  suffering, 
he  dejmrted  this  life  on  the  28th  of  March,  1883,  in  the  midst  of 
friends,  and  surrounded  by  the  loved  ones  at  home.  Mr.  Speaker, 
HKUNDON  has  gone  from  among  us  ;  gone  to  a  letter,  brighter, 
and  purer  world.  -  The  family  circle;  will  miss  the  kind,  tender, 
and  indulgent  father,  the  affectionate,  loving,  and  devoted  hus 
band  ;  society,  the  genial,  affable,  and  pleasant  companion,  the 
generous,  noble,  and  true  friend  ;  the  client,  the  able,  faithful,  and 
reliable  counselor;  the  bar  of  Alabama,  one  of  its  leading  law 
yers  and  brightest  ornaments  ;  the  State,  one  who  may  be  truly 
classed  among  the  bravest  of  her  brave  sons,  a  patriot,  a  statesman 
whose  garments  were  unstained,  pure,  and  sj>otless,  one  who  had 
been  faithful  to  every  official  obligation  during  his  public  life. 


10     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERN  DON. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  was  present  at  his  burial  and  witnessed  the  uni 
versal  demonstration,  the  grand  outpouring  of , the  people  of  Mo 
bile  to  do  honor  to  their  distinguished  Representative,  to  pay  the 
last  tribute  of  respect  to  one  whom  they  had  esteemed  and  honored 
in  life.  From  the  church  to  the  cemetery  the  streets  were  alive 
with  thousands  of  people,  all  classes,  both  races,  the  aged  and  the 
young.  The  various  military  organizations,  secret  societies,  orders, 
and  associations  of  the  city  followed  the  cortege  to  the  grave. 
This  demonstration  told  unmistakably  and  truly  how  he  was  loved 
at  his  home.  He  had  lived  with  them  from  early  manhood;  with 
them  he  had  commenced  his  professional  career;  they  had  watched 
his  course  through  life  with  pride  and  admiration.  They  knew 
him  well.  They  loved  him  for  his  sterling  worth,  the  purity  of 
his  character,  the  sincerity  of  his  friendship,  for  that  noble,  true, 
generous,  and  liberal  heart  that  beat  within  his  breast.  As  we 
stood  around  his  grave  there  was  another  pleasing  incident.  The 
floral  offerings,  numerous  and  beautiful  designs  of  rare  flowers, 
covered  the  casket.  After  it  was  lowered  to  its  last  resting-place 
and  all  was  over,  garlands  of  choicest  flowers,  wrought  by  fair 
hands,  encircled  his  grave.  This  pure,  chaste,  and  beautiful  offer 
ing  from  the  daughters  of  Mobile  spoke  more  eloquently  than 
words  how  he  was  loved  by  his  people  at  home,  a  people  who  will 
hold  him  in  memory  as  fragrant  as  the  magnolia  groves  that  line 
the  bay  shore  where  he  now  quietly,  peacefully,  and  calmly  sleeps. 


Address  of  Mr.  HoRR,  of   Michigan. 

It  (alls  to  my  lot  to  do  perhaps  an  unusual  thing,  and  that  is  to 
talk  for  a  few  moments  to  the  members  of  the  House  in  reference 
to  our  deceased  brother  and  friend  without  that  preparation  which 
is  usually  made  for  such  occasions.  I  shall  make  this  attempt 
simply  because  of  my  respect  for  Mr.  HERNDON,  and  my  lack  of 
preparation  arises  entirely  from  the  fact  that  my  other  duties 
have  been  such  that  it  has  been  impossible  for  me  to  find  time  to 


,  OF  MH'Hiu.ix.  }  \ 

do  what  I  should  like  to  liave  done.     Therefore  whatever  I   may 

~.iv  at  thi>  time,  while  it  inav  lack  tin-  finish  which  is  due  to  such 
an  orra-iou,  will  i>erhaps  have  OIK;  advantage — it  will  be  simply 
what  comes  into  my  mind  from  the  memories  that  cluster  around 
the  name  of  our  departed  friend. 

Mr.  S|>eaker,  we  learn  but  little  of  the  real  chaarcter  of  men  as 
we  serve  with  them  upon  the  floor  of  this  Mouse.  What  I  mean 
is  this:  That  here  it  is  always  u  sort  of  intellectual  arena — a  sort 
of  liirht  which  simply  brings  out  one-half  or  one  side  of  a  man,  so 
that  you  may  serve  here  with  a  member  year  in  and  year  out  and 
yet  know  little  of  the  qualities  which  go  to  make  up  his  real 
character.  Some  one  has  said,  I  do  not  know  who,  that  no  one 
ever  knows  a  jH-rson  well  unless  he  lives  in  the  family  with  him, 
sees  him  in  his  own  home,  meets  him  in  the  little  every -day  atliiirs 
of  life;  and  I  sometimes  think  that  perhaps  that  is  in  every  re- 
s|>eet  true. 

Hut  while  we  may  learn  but  little  of  men  as  we  meet  them  here- 
from  dav  to  dav  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  is  it  not  equally  true 
that  we  do  often  come  to  know  men  well  with  whom  we  serve 
upon  the  active,  laborious  committees  of  this  House?  For  two 
years  I  served  with  Mr.  HEIINDON  upon  the  Committee  on  Com 
merce.  It  was  a  laborious  committee.  I  had  there  the  opportu 
nity  to  meet  him  almost  every  day  of  the  session  ;  for  in  the 
Forty-seventh  Congress  we  were  at  work  constantly  in  that  com 
mittee.  In  that  way  I  think  I  learned  more  of  his  character  than 
I  could  have  learned  by  meeting  him  on  the  floor  of  this  House: 
in  j)erhaps  ten  years'  service.  During  those  entire  two  years,  Mr. 
S]>eaker,  I  do  not  recollect  a  single  instance  of  anything  but  the 
most  pleasant  relations  between  Mr.  HKKNDOX  and  every  meml>er 
of  the  committee.  And  what  is  perhaps  still  stranger,  while  he 
and  I  differed  as  widely  as  two  men  could  differ  on  questions  of 
polities,  I  do  not  now  remember  to  have  had  the  least  difference 
with  him  on  any  question  of  business,  and  that  committee,  as  you 
all  know,  was  devoted  entirely  to  business,  to  the  development  of 
the  business  interests  of  the  country. 


12  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  IlEUNDON. 

I  very  well  remember  the  last  time  that  I  ever  saw  him.  The 
committee  had  been  postponing  for  clays  matters  which  pertained 
to  his  State  and  district  on  account  of  his  illness  in  order  that  we 
might  learn  from  him  his  wishes  as  to  the  different  matters  be 
fore  the  committee.  He  finally  came  in — feeble,  but  with  the  same 
quiet,  mobtrusive  manner  that  so  attached  to  him  every  member 
of  the  committee.  And  I  recollect  as  he  went  over  the  list  and 
[minted  out  the  instances  in  which  his  people  were  affected  by  the 
legislation  we  were  proposing,  how  careful  and  conscientious  he  was 
to  demand  only  what  his  people  ought  to  have.  And  I  reveal  no 
secrets  of  the  committee  when  I  say  that  in  a  list  of  twenty  re 
quests  we  adopted  without  a  dissenting  voice  every  one  of  his  rec 
ommendations.  He  was  a  safe  man  to  follow.  He  was  a  man 
whose  head  was  always  level,  and  whose  judgment  was  accurate  on 
questions  of  public  business  or  public  policy. 

Some  of  you  gentlemen  around  me  here  who  were  his  neighbors 
will  no  doubt  speak  of  Mr.  HERXDOX  as  you  knew  him  socially. 
I  knew  nothing  of  his  family  relations;  but  from  my  intimate  ac 
quaintance  with  him  during  those  two  years  of  laborious  committee 
service  I  feel  the  utmost  confidence  in  saying  that  he  was  a  kind 
father  and  an  excellent  husband.  And  when  you  have  said  that 
of  a  man  you  have  said  more  than  when  you  call  him  a  statesman. 
A  great  many  men  have  been  statesmen  who  have  not  been  the 
best  of  citi/ens.  But  there  was  never  a  man  who  was  among  the 
best  of  citi/ens,  a  kind  father  and  husband,  who  might  not  have 
been,  if  given  the  opportunity,  an  excellent  statesman. 

I  look  back  upon  my  relations  with  Mr.  HERXDOX  as  among 
the  pleasant  recollections  of  my  life.  I -revere  his  memory  simply 
for  those  quiet,  sterling  qualities  which  in  our  every-day  life  we 
recognize  as  the  elements  that  dignify  and  ennoble  the  character  of 
men  in  the  genuine  relations  of  life.  More  than  this  I  could 
hardly  say  of  any  one;  less  than  this  I  could  not  say  of  my  friend, 
Mr.  HERXDOX,  and  do  him  justice  or  do  justice  to  my  own  feelings 
toward  him. 


.I/I/J///--NX  OF  MR.  DOtri),  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  13 


Address   of  Mr.   Down,   of  North   Carolina. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  It  is  related  of  an  eminent  English  statesman 
that  Wing  about  to  sit  for  his  portrait  he  was  interrogated  by  the 
artist  with  reference  to  certain  splotches  on  his  face,  whether  they 
should  appear  in  the  picture  or  not,  and  he  answered  with  emphasis, 
"  Paint  me  as  I  am,  blemishes  and  all."  And  when  the  late  Gov 
ernor  Graham,  of  my  own  State,  had  delivered  a  well-considered 
eulogy  UJKHI  the  life  and  character  of  Hon.  George  E.  Badger,  be- 
in"-  asked  whv  he  had  not  l>een  more  fulsome  and  ornate  in  his 

* 

descriptions  and  characterizations,  his  reply  was : 

It  was  not  my  jmrpo.se  to  see  what  a  tlaming  picture  I  could  draw,  nor  to 
makf  a  grandiloquent  sketch  of  an  ideal  orator,  lawyer,  .statesman,  suited  to 
no  one  in  particular;  Imt  I  was  trying  to  describe' George  E.  Badger  just  as 
lie  was,  to  draw  a  picture  that  would  look  like  him  and  nohotly  else. 

So  in  this  instance.  The  highest  eulogy  that  could  be  pro 
nounced  upon  THOMAS  II.  HKRXDON  would  l>c  to  describe  him 
just  as  he  was. 

Whether  as  the  youthful  orator  in  his  graduating  s|>eeeh,  de 
claiming  in  tones  of  thrilling  and  fiery  eloquence  upon  that  patri 
otic  sentiment,  "Our  country,  right  or  wrong;"  whether  as  the 
slender  and  handsome  bridegroom,  twenty  years  of  age,  leading  to 
the  altar  a  lovely  bride  of  only  sixteen  summers;  whether  as  the 
young  husband  and  father,  kissing  adieu  his  wife  and  children 
and  hastening  to  the  front  at  the  sound  of  war;  whether  lifting 
his  voice  above  the  din  of  battle  and  dauntlessly  leading  his  com 
rades  into  the  very  vortex  of  destruction  and  death,  or  lying  upon 
a  soldier's  couch,  pale  and  exhausted  from  fractured  limbs  ami  loss 
of  blood;  whether  thoughtful  and  grave  over  the  problem  of  re 
construction,  or  bearing  down  carpetbagism  with  the  terrific  force 
of  his  invective  and  ridicule;  whether  as  the  young  barrister  or 
maturer  lawyer,  whether  in  victory  or  defeat;  whether  rolling  in 
pain  and  torture  at  his  hotel  while  a  member  of  this  House,  or 
cracking  jokes  to  groups  of  member*)  and  pages  in  the  corridors 
and  Ix'hind  the  railing  in  this  Hall,  wherever  he  was,  whatever 


14     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

he  was  doing,  his  highest  praise,  his  best  eulogy  would  be  to  hold 
him  up  before  the  public  and  let  him  appear  ipsum,  ipsissimum, 
THOMAS  H.  HERXDOX,  just  as  he  was. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  make  any  extended  sketch  of  the  life 
and  public  services  of  the  deceased,  nor  to  dwell  at  length  upon 
the  topics  suggested  by  this  occasion.  I  shall  only  refer  very 
briefly  to  some  of  the  leading  events  in  his  life  and  mention  a 
few  of  his  many  excellent  traits  of  character. 

His  father  was  a  Virginian,  born  in  Spottsylvania  in  1794. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  came  to  Washington  to  seek  employment 
and  formed  the  friendship  of  Gales  &  Seaton,  of  the  old  National 
Intelligencer,  and  retained  that  friendship  unabated  through  life. 

His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Judge  Henry  Toulmin,  of  an 
old  English  family  who  fled  trom  the  persecutions  of  the  reign  of 
the  Second  James  and  sought  repose  as  well  as  political  and  reli 
gious  liberty  in  the  new  colonies,  settling  first  in  Kentucky  and 
afterward  upon  the  Tombigbee,  in  Alabama.  Judge  Toulmin, 
the  maternal  grandfather,  was  a  man  of  marked  ability.  In  Ken 
tucky,  in  early  life,  lie  was  secretary  of  state  and  compiler  of  the 
laws.  In  Mississippi,  a  few  years  later,  he  occupied  a  high  judi 
cial  station,  and  won  great  distinction  by  his  decisions  of  questions 
then  attracting  the  attention  of  the  whole  country.  And  still  later 
in  life  he  held  high  positions  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  being  en 
gaged,  as  the  last  work  of  his  long  and  useful  life,  by  the  legisla 
ture  of  that  State  to  make  a  digest  and  compilation  of  its  laws. 

THOMAS  H.  HEUNDON  was  born  July  1,  1828.  His  father 
was  a  successful  merchant  and  farmer,  having  settled  after  leaving 
Washington  on  the  Black  Warrior,  in  Eric,  Green  County. 
THOMAS  was  a  bright  and  intellectual  boy  and  had  good  advan 
tages.  One  of  his  first  teachers  was  Judge  Sam  Houston,  still 
living  in  Mississippi.  Having  taken  a  preparatory  course  at  La 
Grange,  he  entered  the  sophomore  class  in  the  University  of  Ala 
bama  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  Graduating  with  distinction  in 
1847,  lie  went  in  September  of  that  year  to  Harvard  College, 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  where,  in  July,  1848,  he  took  his  degree  of 
bachelor  of  laws.  In  December,  1848,  he  was  married,  being  only 
a  little  more  than  twenty  years  of  age  and  his  bride  sixteen. 


Ainu;*:**  or  MI;.  itn\vitt  OF  NOKTH  CAROLINA.  15 

Mrs.  Herndon,  his  excellent  and  devoted  wife,  is  a  daughter  of 
Dr.  Al>rain  Franklin  Alexander,  an  eminent  physician  and  a  North 
(  ;in>liniun  by  birth,  whose  ancestors  for  several  generations  lived 
in  the  county  of  Mecklenburg,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  repre 
sent  in  this  House  and  to  call  my  home.  Dr.  Alexander  was  the 
grandson  of  Abraham  Alexander,  the  president  of  the  series  of 
meetings  which  formulated,  and  of  the  convention  which  in  May, 
1775,  promulgated  the  Mecklenburg  declaration  of  independence, 
more  than  a  year  in  advance  of  the  national  declaration  of  July  4, 
1776. 

Mr.  HEUXDON  early  took  an  interest  in  politics.  In  1851  he 
was  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party  for  the  legislature,  and 
though  the  county  had  a  large  Whig  majority  he  was  defeated  by 
onlv  a  few  votes.  In  185-'>  he  moved  to  Mobile  and  l>ecame  a 
member  of  the  law  firm  of  Chandler,  Smith  &  ITerndon,  which 
had  a  large  and  successful  practice.  He  was  elected  to  the  legis 
lature  from  Mobile  in  1857,  and  was  a  member  of  the  secession 
convention  in  1800.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  entered 
the  army  with  the  rank  of  major,  and  was  soon  promoted  to  that 
of  colonel,  and  was  twice  severely  wounded.  After  the  close  of 
the  war  he  returned  home  and  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  but 
soon  l)ccame  again  engaged  in  politics.  He  was  among  the  fore 
most  in  that  desperate  struggle  which  resulted  in  wresting  the 
State  of  Alabama  from  the  hordes  of  ear|>ct-baggers  and  plunderers 
who  had  obtained  control  in  the  dismal  period  of  reconstruction. 

In  1872  he  was  the  Democratic  nominee  for  governor  of  the 
State,  receiving  the  full  party  vote,  but  was  defeated  by  a  small 
majority.  In  1870  he  was  again  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and 
had  a  considerable  following  for  United  States  Senator  in  the  Dem 
ocratic  caucus  when  Senator  Morgan  was  nominated.  He  was 
elected  a  Representative  to  the  Forty-sixth,  Forty-seventh,  and 
Forty-eighth  Congresses,  and  died  on  the  28th  day  of  March,  188.'». 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  HEKXPOX  began  with  the  Forty- 
seventh  Congress,  and  knowing  him  somewhat  intimately  I  should 
say  his  most  prominent  characteristic  was  his  extreme  amiability 
and  mildness  of  t-emper.  His  cheerfulness  seemed  never  to  desert 
him. 


16     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

A  long,  painful,  and  hopeless  illness  did  not  render  him  morose 
nor  drive  away  the  softness  and  sweetness  of  his  disposition.  And 
yet  he  was  fond  of  life,  and  had  the  keenest  relish  of  its  pleasures. 
An  earnest  and  faithful  worker  in  whatever  he  had  to  do,  he  was 
yet  fond  of  amusements,  and  keenly  enjoyed  his  hours  of  recrea 
tion.  Patient  of  lab:»r,  enduring  with  fortitude  the  cares  and  toils 
of  life,  he  did  not  scorn  its  delights  nor  refuse  to  pluck  a  rose  on 
his  pathway  because,  forsooth,  he  might  encounter  a  thorn.  He 
seemed  to  appreciate  the  philosophy  of  life  and  pleasure  as  typified 
in  the  familiar  stanzas: 

There's  a  ripple  of  rhyme 

On  the  river  of  time, 
As  it  lloats  thro'  the  years  and  the  ages, 

And  a  sunny  gleam 

Or  a.  golden  dream 
On  (he  saddest  of  life's  sad  pages. 

There's  a  sad  refrain 

To  the  sweetest  strain, 
The  longest  day  soon  closes; 

And  so  we'll  take, 

For  their  sweet  sake, 
The  thorns  'mid  life's  sweet  roses. 

The  daylight  fades 

In  deepest  shades, 
And  life  has  many  phases  ; 

The  falling  dew 

And  snnheams,  too, 
Make  buttercups  and  daises. 

In  his  friendships  he  was  both  ardent  and  steadfast.  Warm 
hearted  and  genial,  close  and  confidential  with  his  friends,  he  united 
dignity  with  complaisance  in  that  rare  proportion  which  at  once 
commands  the  highest  respect  and  the  warmest  affection.  It  was 
only  the  beautiful  and  the  good  in  the  world  that  seemed  to  have 
any  affinity  for  him.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to  have  an 
enemy,  as  there  was  no  place  in  his  heart  for  envy  or  hatred  or 

malice. 

To  his  life,  has  tlow'd 

From  its  mysterious  urn  a  saercd  stream, 
In  whose  calm  depth  the  heantifnl  and  pure 
Alone  are  mirror'd. 


<>F  MK.  Doiri),  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  17 

With  all  this  gentleness  and  suit  ness  of  heart  he  adhered  to  prin 
ciple  with  the  firmness  and  heroism  of  a  stoic,  and  he  was  as  open 
and  frank  with  an  adversary  as  he  was  close  and  confidential  with 
a  I'rientl,  "as  gentle  as  a  woman — as  stalwart  as  a  grenadier.'1 

In  his  marriage  he  was  most  fortunate.  His  wile  was  indeed  a 
helpmeet  for  him.  Engaged  when  he  was  nineteen  and  she  fif 
teen,  it  could  have  been  nothing  but  a  love  match;  and  no  two 
h carts  could  have  been  more  closely  united,  or  two  dispositions 
more  perfectly  assimilated  and  blended  than  theirs.  Much  of  his 
success  in  life  was  due  to  the  strong  sense  and  inspiring  devotion 
of  his  faithful  wife.  In  the  field  of  his  enterprises  and  labors  she 
was  ever  his  bright  incentive;  in  adversity,  his  stay  and  support ; 
in  the  hour  of  triumph  she  was  his  pride  and  his  joy;  and  in  afllic- 
tion  and  sorrow  his  solace  and  comforter. 

As  their  voting  hearts  were  cemented  in  the  enchanted  season  of 
early  love,  so  their  wedded   life  seems  to  have  been  an   unbroken 
spell  of  love.     Theirs  was  truly  a   love-life.      In   a   recent    letter 
written  with  reference  to  this  occasion,  Mrs.  Herndon  uses  this  em 
phatic!  language: 

I  feel  that  I  should  l»e  moiv  rt'signt'd  to  God's  will  in  this  sad  bereavement 
IM-OHUSO  of  tin-  long,  hiippy,  and  blissful  lift-  I  liuvo  onjoyud. 

To  them  love  must  have  been  the  morning  and  evening  star  and 
the  bright  IM>W  to  span  all  the  dark  clouds  that  overhang  the  jour 
ney  of  life.  It  bla/ed  upon  the  marriage  altar  and  shed  its  radi- 
upon  the  |>eaceful  tomb.  In  their  home  it  was  the  source  of 
,  the  parent  of  melody,  and  its  voiw  was  music.  It  was  the 
builder  of  their  every  hope,  "the  magician  that  changes  worthless 
things  to  jov  and  makes  right  roval  kings  and  queens  of  common 
clav  ;  the  perfume  of  that  wondrous  Hower,  the  heart — a  sacred 
passion  without  which  we  are  less  than  beasts  and  with  which  earth 
is  heaven  and  we  are  gods." 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  is  no  appeal  from  that  inexorable  decree  which 
dooms  us  all  to  death.  Generations  of  men  will  appear  and  disap 
pear  as  spring  and  autumn  and  day  and  night,  and  the  multitudes 
which  now  people  the  earth  will  soon  IK-  gone  as  the  flight  of  spar 
rows  or  the  mists  of  the  morning.  Death  is  the  antagonism  of  life, 

U  HE 


18     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

and  the  thought  of  the  tomb  is  the  skeleton  at  every  feast.  We  do 
not  want  to  go  down  into  the  dark  valley,  although  its  gloomy  pas 
sages  may  lead  to  perennial  sunshine  and  happiness — 

For  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreams  may  come, 
When  we  have  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil, 

Must  give  us  pause. 

*  *  *  *  * 

The  dread  of  something  after  death, 

The  midiscover'd  country,  from  whoadDonrn 

No  traveler  returns,  puzzles  the  will ; 

And  makes  UH  rather  bear  those  ills  we  have, 

Than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of. 

The  hope  of  immortality  was  eloquently  uttered  by  the  death-de 
voted  Greek  in  the  beautiful  dream  of  u  Ion,"  and  finds  a  deep  re 
sponse  in  every  thoughtful  heart.  When  about  to  yield  his  life  a 
sacrifice  to  fate,  his  Clemanthe  asked  if  they  should  meet  again,  and 
his  response  was,  "  That  dreadful  question  I  have  asked  of  the 
hills  that  look  eternal,  of  the  clear  streams  that  flow  forever,  of  the 
stars  among  whose  azure  fields  the  raised  spirits  walk  in  glory." 


Address  of  Mr.  CuLBERSON,  of  Texas. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  The  history  of  the  life  and  eminent  career  of 
Mr.  HERNDON  has  been  well  told  by  those  who  have  preceded  me, 
and  I  come  now  only  to  express  my  sorrow  for  his  loss  and  to  offer 
a  brief  but  sincere  tribute  to  his  virtues  and  his  memory.  I  was 
reared  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  from  my  earliest  boyhood  what 
ever  has  concerned  the  well-being  and  honor  of  that  State  or  the 
character,  virtues,  and  lives  of  her  prominent  men  has  been  of  great 
interest  to  me. 

Although  I  had  never  met  Mr.  HERNDON  until  the  organization 
of  the  Forty -sixth  Congress,  his  character  and  public  services  were 
well  known  to  me.  I  was  prepared  to  appreciate  his  inestimable 
worth.  Our  personal  acquaintance  began  with  that  Congress,  and 
our  relations  soon  became  most  intimate  and  friendly.  He  was 
my  friend,  and  when  his  bright  life  closed  in  death  I  sincerely  de 
plored  his  loss. 


OF  MH.  CULKERSON,  OF  TEXAS.  19 

Mr.  1 1 1  i;\  IH)X  was  DO  ordinary  DIED.  In  private  and  social  life 
In-  \\a>  a  ehanning  companion.  He  was  the  pride  and  admiration 
<.f  every  circle  of  friends.  Hjs  finely  cultured  mind,  the  warmth 
and  frankness  of  his  genial  nature,  and  his  pleasing  manners  gave 
him  a  cordial  welcome  to  every  social  circle.  Indeed,  in  every  ele 
ment  that  ennobles  banian  nature  none  excelled  him,  and  no  one  in 
all  the  range  of  my  acquaintance  seemed  to  possess  in  such  a  re 
markable  degree  all  of  those  qualities  of  head  and  heart  that  make 
human  nature  lovable.  There  was  no  station  in  life  for  which  he 
was  unfitted,  and  none  filled  by  him  he  did  not  adorn  by  his  learn 
ing,  ennoble  by  his  virtue,  and  endear  by  his  genial  deportment. 

He  was  a  thorough  and  accomplished  lawyer,  and  was  greatly 
devoted  to  his  profession.  At  the  very  outset  of  his  professional 
career  he  took  rank  among  the  foremost  members  of  the  bar  of 
Alabama,  then  and  now  renowned  throughout  the  South  for 
its  thorough  learning  and  integrity.  His  mind  was  incisive,  ana 
lytical,  and  thorough.  Though  he  possessed  genius  of  the  highest 
order,  he  reached  his  conclusions  after  patient  consideration,  and 
when  reached  he  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  and  main 
tained  them  with  all  the  fervor  and  power  of  his  nature.  lie  was 
indeed  an  ornament  to  the  legal  profession,  and  his  career  as  a 
lawyer  is  worthy  of  the  highest  emulation. 

As  a  soldier  serving  the  "  lost  cause"  his  noble  characteristics 
shone  resplendently.  Whether  in  the  pride  ami  pomp  of  the  open 
ing  of  the  great  struggle  between  the  sections,  in  the  suffering  and 
privations  of  actual  war,  upon  the  battle-field,  or  in  the  gloom 
and  disaster  of  defeat,  he  was  the  same  true,  hopeful,  and  devoted 
patriot,  beloved  by  all.  In  all  the  ranks  of  that  great  army  that 
went  to  battle  inspired  by  what  it  deemed  a  patriotic  duty  then- 
was  none  gentler,  braver,  truer  than  the  lamented  HKUNDON. 

His  name  in  camp  and  field  was  the  synonym  of  all  that  is  heroic 
in  courage,  noble  in  patriotic  devotion  to  duty,  magnanimous  in 
victory,  or  hopeful  in  defeat.  He  loved  his  home,  his  native  State, 
with  more  than  filial  devotion,  and  served  her  cause  in  peace  and 
war  with  all  the  energy  of  his  tireless  nature.  When  the  noble 
deeds  of  the  sons  of  Alabama  in  that  great  struggle  shall  be 


20     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERN  DON. 

gathered  up  by  the  historian  there  will  be  no  brighter,  purer,  or 
lovelier  chapter  than  that  which  shall  record  the  sacrifices,  the 
unselfish  love  of  home  and  country,  the  indomitable  courage  and 
fortitude  of  her  gifted  son  whose  virtues  we  commemorate  and 
whose  death  we  now  deplore. 

His  devotion  to  Alabama  cost  him  years  of  physical  pain,  and 
finally  his  life.  A  wound  received  upon  the  battle-field  shattered 
his  frail  form.  Surgery  was  powerless  to  repair  the  injury.  Year 
by  year  he  walked  in  the  very  shadow  of  death.  At  last,  in  the 
meridian  of  his  useful  life,  his  spirit  yielded  to  the  conqueror,  and 
one  more  victim  lay  upon  the  altar  of  patriotic  duty. 

When  the  war  closed  Mr.  HERXDON  returned  to  his  home  in 
the  lovely  city  of  Mobile  and  resumed  the  practice;  of  the  law. 
The  vicissitudes  and  results  of  the  war  had  swept  away  his  fortune. 
He  carried  the  wound  which  daily  wasted  his  vital  energies,  but 
neither  adversity  nor  privation,  nor  wounded  health  broke  his 
manly  spirit.  Success  crowned  his  toil. 

He  was  not,  however,  permitted  to  enjoy  but  for  a  short  time 
the  quiet  and  comforts  of  private  life  and  the  undivided  pursuit  of 
his  profession,  so  congenial  to  his  tastes  and  nature.  Alabama  had 
entered  upon  the  most  critical  period  of  her  history.  She  was  in 
the  jaws  of  reconstruction.  The  wisdom  of  his  counsel  was  de 
manded  in  the  service  of  the  State.  With  that  self-denial  which 
ever  characterized  his  eventful  life,  he  abandoned  his  private  busi 
ness  and  entered  the  legislature  of  Alabama.  This  occasion  forbids 
allusion  to  partisan  or  political  subjects  that  would  mar  its  solemni 
ties.  In  the  presence  of  a  common  loss  and  a  universal  grief  the 
voice  of  party  is  hushed,  and  Qulogy  records  the  merits  which  all 
alike  concede.  His  election  to  Congress  was  a  fitting  recognition 
of  the  great  service  he  rendered  his  people  and  State  in  the  days  of 
their  trial,  and  with  what  industry,  fidelity,  and  intelligence  he 
served  his  constituents  his  colleagues  bear  willing  testimony. 

Mr.  HKRNBON  was  not  a  politician  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  that  character,  but  he  was  a  scholar,  an  accomplished  lawyer,  a 
brave  and  generous  soldier,  and  cultured  statesman.  He  scorned, 
as  unworthy  his  noble  nature,  the  ordinary  arts  of  the  politician 


ADD1WSS  OF  MR.  UKMHMSON,  OF  ILLINOIS.  21 

and  the  misleading  artifices  of  the  demagogue.  lie  was  a  profound 
and  independent  thinker.  His  frail  and  wasted  physical  condi 
tion  in  some  degree  unfitted  him  for  an  equal  part  in  the  usual 
tumultuary  proceedings  of  i\v\  House  of  Representatives,  but  in 
all  those  departments  of  labor  devolving  upon  a  mcnd>er  of  Con 
gress  in  which  laws  are  primarily  shaped  and  policies  determined, 
in  the  council  chambers  of  committees,  in  party  conferences,  lie  was 
the  peer  of  any  member  who  sat  with  him  upon  this  floor. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  family  circle,  composed  of  husband,  wife, 
daughters,  and  sons,  broken  by  the  death  of  our  friend,  was  a  true 
type  of  domestic  happiness.  Whatever  of  the  gloom  of  adversity 
obtruded  upon  it,  whatever  of  disquiet  and  solicitude  invaded  its 
sacred  precincts,  was  speedily  expelled  by  the  presence  of  its  head. 

His  countenance  was  sunshine  itself;  his  voice  the  expression 
of  confiding  love,  and  his  deportment,  under  all  circumstances,  the 
offspring  of  the  nobility  of  human  nature. 

He  was  a  devoted  husband — gentle,  kind, and  confiding  ;  a  gen 
erous,  indulgent,  loving  father.  All  these  virtues,  and  more,  im 
pressed  themselves  upon  the  modest  home  of  that. bright  and  happy 
circle.  The  gloom  which  now  enshrouds  that  once  happy  home 
tells  in  unmistakable  language  the  irreparable  loss  of  wife  and 
children,  and  proclaims  in  silent  eloquence  the  virtues  of  the  la 
mented  dead. 


Address  of  Mr.  HENDERSON,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  It  is  not  my  purpose  at  this  time  to  sjM-ak  at 
length  of  the  life  and  character  of  the  late  THOMAS  II.  IIiOUN- 
IM)N.  That  has  been  done  by  others  more  familiar  with  his  char 
acter  and  l)etter  prepared  to  speak  of  his  many  virtues  than  I  am. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  UKUNDON  began  soon  after  he  be 
came  a  meml>er  of  this  body,  and  was  brought  about  by  a  simi 
larity  of  names,  on  account  of  which  I  often  received  his  letters 
and  opened  them  through  mistake,  and  he  quite  as  often  received 
and  opened  mine.  In  this  way  an  acquaintance  began  between  us 
which  became  quite  intimate  and  cordial,  so  much  so  that  it  was 
with  deep  regret  and  sorrow  I  heard  the  sad  intelligence  of  his  death. 


22     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  only  intended  on  this  occasion  to  ex 
press  the  respect  which  I  entertained  for  Mr.  HERNDON,  and  to 
say  that  in  all  my  acquaintance  and  association  with  him  he 
always  impressed  me  as  a  man  of  high  and  noble  character. 

I  never  had  the  honor  of  serving  with  him  upon  any  of  the 
committees  of  the  House,  nor  did  our  legislative  duties  bring  us 
in  contact  with  each  other  very  often.  But  I  had  opportunities 
to  observe,  and  did  observe,  his  deportment  here  as  a  member  of 
this  House,  and  I  always  found  him  to  be,  as  my  friend  from 
Alabama  [Mr.  Jones]  has  said,  a  perfect  gentleman.  He  was  quiet, 
dignified,  honorable  in  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-members, 

O  /  ' 

and  able  and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties.  I 
have  been  impressed  with  the  belief  that  owing  to  failing  health 
Mr.  HERNDON  never  exhibited  to  the  House  fully  the  ability,  the 
high  and  manly  qualities  which  he  really  possessed.  But  certainly, 
Mr.  Speaker,  no  one  who  observed  the  amiable"  character,  the  ex 
emplary  life  of  Mr.  HERNDON  could  fail  to  respect  and  admire  the 
man  for  his  many  noble  qualities. 

I  will  detain  the  House  but  a  moment  longer.  I  only  desired, 
as  I  have  said,  to  pay  a  brief  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  HERN- 
DON,  and  in  conclusion  will  say  that  I  shall  always  remember  him 
as  one  whose  character  it  was  profitable  to  study.  He  was  a  man 
of  ability  and  sterling  worth  ;  a  gentleman  who  brought  to  the  dis 
charge  of  his  public  duties  the  highest  integrity  and  fidelity,  and 
we  but  honor  ourselves  in  cherishing  his  memory. 


Address  of  Mr.   HERBERT,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  TIIOMAH  H.  HERNDON  was  a  typical  Southerner, 
one  of  that  class  we  proudly  point  to  as  the  outgrowth  of  South 
ern  civilization.  There  is  not  a  virtue  that  embellishes  true  man 
hood  that  did  not  find  in  him  a  perfect  exemplification. 

He  was  modest  as  a  woman,  tender  as  a  girl,  brave  as  a  lion, 
generous  to  a  fault,  and,  amid  all  the  vicissitudes  of  an  eventful 

O  ' 

life,  whether  radiant  among  his  friends  in  the  calm  sunshine  of 


ADDKESS  OF  MK.  HE  K  RE  It  T,  OF  ALARAM.l.  23 

peace,  or  in  tho  vaogtiard  of  his  comrades  breast!  ug  the  dark  .storm- 
eli.iid-  of  war,  he  was  absolute])'  true  to  his  convictions' of  right. 
His  character  shone  like  a  star,  and  like  a  planet  in  the  heavens  it 
luvame  brighter  and  brighter 88  the  night  grew  darker. 

Intellectually  he  was  not  so  pre-eminent,  and  yet  he  was  pos 
sessed  of  distinguished  ability.  He  was  highly  efficient  as  a  legis 
lator  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  constituents  ;  but  ill  health 
impaired  his  usefulness  when  a  member  of  this  House.  He  was 
a  successful  lawyer,  elear  in  his  perception  of  legal  propositions  and 
forceful  in  their  statement.  Here  as  everywhere  his  character  came 
to  liis  aid.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  all  men,  and  this  gave 
him  weight  as  a  jurist  and  effectiveness  as  an  advocate.  In  sarcasm 
he  had  the  power  to  excel,  but  he  restrained  himself.  His  wit 
sometimes  flashed  and  cut  like  a  falchion,  but  he  carried  it  as  a 
sword  asleep  in  its  scabbard.  The  casual  acquaintance  seldom  knew 
he  possessed  it.  He  also  had  fine  executive  capacity.  In  the  dark 
days  that  came  upon  the  South  in  18<57-'(j8,  when  began  that 
terrible  political  struggle  which  culminated  in  the  great  campaign 
of  1M74,  when  of  those  who  believed  with  him  the  stoutest  hearts 
had  lost  hope,  HKUXDOX  came  to  the  front,  an  appointed  leader, 
and  to  him  more  than  any  other  was  his  party  in  the  beautiful  city 
of  Mobile  indebted  for  the  grand  triumph  it  ultimately  won.  For 
his  devotion,  his  patriotism,  his  unselfishness,  the  people  loved  him, 
and  as  they  loved  him  so  he  loved  them. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  has  lx?en  my  melancholy  pleasure  to  attend  two 
great  funerals.  I  was  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  so  many  of  the 
American  people  were  gathered  around  the  bier  of  the  murdered 
(Jarfield.  Xeverdid  the  pomp  and  pride  and  luxury  of  grief  find 
more  fitting  illustration.  As  I  looked  on  the  vast  sea  of  humanity 
that  surged  to  and  fro  it  seemed  as  if  the  North  and  the  South,  the 
East  and  the  West  had  met  on  one  common  ground.  As  the  eye 
ran  over  the  floral  decorations,  it  appeared  that  Mother  Earth  had 
given  up  all  her  flowers  that  the  florist  might  weave  them  into  forms 
of  beauty  in  honor  of  a  favorite  son  ;  and  when  the  black  plumes 
waved  and  the  grand  cavalcade  moved,  and  Euclid  avenue,  the 
most  !>eautiful  street  in  America,  was  packed  for  miles  and  miles 


24  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  11ERNDON. 

with  the  procession,  civic  and  military,  that  pageant  was  a  revela 
tion — a  testimonial  to  the  genius  of  the  dead  statesman  the  like  of 
which  eye  had  never  seen  before. 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  was  grief  there;  the  Union  was  mourning 
over  the  victim  of  the  assassin.  But,  sir,  there  was  something 
more  than  grief.  The  place  that  had  been  vacated  was  too  great, 
the  occasion  was  too  momentous,  the  elements  comprising  it  were 
too  diverse,  to  permit  that  vast  assembly  to  be  animated  solely  by  a 
single  impulse.  Even  under  the  shadow  of  the  tomb,  though  the 
thrill  of  horror  that  followed  the  shot  of  the  murderer  yet  vibrated 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  there  were  hope  and  fear  and  wonder 
ment  and  other  impulses  contending  with  the  grief  that  permeated 
that  mighty  concourse  of  people. 

Two  years  later  I  attended  the  other  funeral.  It  was  a  beauti 
ful  April  morning  in  a  quiet  Southern  city  by  the  sea.  No  tragedy 
had  brought  about  the  death  of  him  we  had  come  to  bury.  Hu 
man  hands  had  not  assailed,  but  human  aid  had  been  exhausted 
in  the  effort  to  save.  He  had  died  quietly  at  home,  amid  kindred 
and  friends,  the  victim  of  a  slow,  merciless,  incurable  disease.  If 
it  had  been  possible,  expectation  had  discounted  grief. 

He  was  not  a  great  orator,  whose  words  had  rung  over  the  Union. 
He  was  not  a  dead  President ;  none  came  out  of  curiosity  to  see 
the  face  of  the  great  man  for  the  first  time;  but  every  home  in  that 
city  seemed  as  silent  as  the  grave.  Its  more  than  thirty  thousand 
people  had  gathered  to  bury  a  dear,  familiar  friend.  One  impulse 
animated  all ;  everywhere  the  paraphernalia  of  woe ;  everywhere 
flowers,  tokens  of  affection  ;  in  every  face  of  high  or  low,  rich  or 
poor,  the  signs  of  sadness  and  sorrow.  It  was  a  touching  sight  to 
see  the  merchant,  the  lawyer,  the  laborer,  the  old  and  the  young, 
the  -white  and  the  colored  man,  pass  one  by  one  around  the  coffin, 
each  taking  a  last  sad  look  at  the  face  of  him  who  was  the  friend 
of  all. 

And  so  with  mingled  grief  we  laid  our  dead  colleague  away  to 
sleep  among  the  flowers.  Rest  thee,  HEKNDON  !  Your  life  was  as 
beautiful  as  the  flowers  of  the  field,  and  it  teaches  a  lesson  that  will 
not,  like  them,  fade  away  and  die. 


<n  MI;.  siir.LLEY,  OF  ALAKAUA.  25 


Address  by  Mr.  SHELLEY,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  SPKAKKU:  THOMAS  H<H>I>  HKUM>ON  was  born  at  the  vil 
lage  of  Kric,  on  the  Warrior  River,  in  Green  County,  Alabama,  on 
the  1st  day  of  July,  1828,  and  died  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  on  the  28th  day 
ol'  March,  188.'$.  He  spent  his  boyhood  at  the  place  of  his  nativity, 
surrounded  by  the  best  influences  of  a  home  abounding  in  all 
that  can  refine  the  heart,  improve  the  intellect,  exalt  the  character, 
and  develop  manhood.  From  there  lie  went  to  the  State  Univer 
sity  at  Tus<:aloo>a,  where  be  graduated  in  theyear  1847.  He  read  law 
with  Hon.  Joseph  W.  Taylor,  a  distinguished  lawyer  anil  orator, 
and  at  Harvard,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1849.  He  set 
tled  at  the  town  of  Kutaw,  in  his  native  county.  Before  lie  reached 
the  years  of  maturity  he  was  an  ardent  Democrat.  He  took  an 
active  interest  in  polities  and  became  associate  editor  of  the  Kutaw 
Democrat,  of  whose  editorial  columns  he  had  entire  charge  during 
the  exciting  times  of  1850. 

In  1851  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives 
of  the  State  legislature  and  served  for  one  year.  During  the 
month  of  September  of  that  year  he  wrote  a  series  of  letters,  over 
the  signature  of  "John  Taylor  of  Caroline,"  to  the  Montgomery 
Advertiser  and  Gazette,  which  exhibited  his  varied  learning  and 
brilliant  literary  attainments.  After  the  expiration  of  his  term  in 
the  legislature  he  returned  to  his  home  and  devoted  his  time  to 
his  profession,  without  any  abatement,  however,  of  his  deep  inter 
est  in  the  politics  of  the  country. 

In  the  year  1853  he  removed  to  Mobile,  and  in  the  year  1857 
was  elected  by  the  Democratic  party  to  represent  Mobile  County 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  State  legislature.  He  returned  to  Ku 
taw  in  1859,  and  was  chosen  in  1800  a  delegate,  with  Hon.  James 
I>.  Webb,  to  represent  Green  County  in  the  secession  convention 
of  the  State  of  Alabama.  He  was  conspicuous  as  a  leader  of  the 
younger  members  of  the  convention,  among  whom  were  many  of 
the  most  brilliant  young  men  of  the  State. 


26  LIVE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

As  soon  as  possible  after  the  adjournment  of  the  convention  he 
entered  the  Confederate  army  as  major  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Ala 
bama  Infantry.  He  was  afterwards  chosen  colonel  of  that  regi 
ment  and  served  with  that  rank  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He 
was  distinguished  for  high  courage  and  gallantry  as  a  soldier.  He 
was  wounded  at  the  battles  of  Chickarnauga  and  Atlanta,  and  sur 
rendered  at  Meridian,  Miss.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he  set 
tled  again  at  Mobile,  where  he  engaged  actively  in  the  practice  of 
the  law,  in  partnership  with  his  brother-in-law,  Col.  Robert  H. 
Smith,  the  firm  doing  the  leading  practice  in  the  city. 

Colonel  HERNDON  never  shirked  the  duties  of  a  good  citizen ; 
consequently  the  drafts  made  upon  him  by  his  fellow-citizens, 
which  were  constant  and  heavy,  were  always  promptly  met.  He 
was  chosen  president  of  the  central  council  of  the  Democratic 
party  of  Mobile  County  in  1868,  during  the  Presidential  campaign 
of  that  year,  in  which  position  he  displayed  rare  executive  capac 
ity  and  eternal  vigilance.  He  was  nominated  by  the  Democratic 
party  for  governor  of  Alabama  in  1872,  but  was  defeated  by  Hon. 
P.  D.  Lewis,  the  Republican  nominee,  after  a  heated  campaign,  in 
which  he  fully  sustained  his  reputation  as  -a  brilliant  debater  and 
enlightened  statesman. 

In  September,  1876,  Colonel  HERNDON  was  chosen  by  his 
fellow-citizens  of  Mobile  County  as  one  of  the  delegates  to  repre 
sent  that  county  in  the  constitutional  convention  which  framed  the 
present  constitution  of  the  State  of  Alabama.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  the  executive  department,  and  the  people  of 
the  State  are  probably  more  largely  indebted  to  him  than  any  other 
delegate  for  the  compact  and  methodical  manner  in  which  that  con 
stitution  now  exists. 

Colonel  HERNDON  was  again  elected  a  member  of  the  house  of 
representatives  of  the  State  legislature  from  Mobile  County,  in 
November,  1876,  and  served  as  chairman  of  the  judiciary  commit 
tee  of  that  body.  He  received  a  very  complimentary  vote  in  the 
legislature  that  year  for  United  States  Senator. 

He  was  first  chosen  a  member  of  this  House  in  November,  1878. 
He  received  the  nomination  from  the  convention  of  his  party  while 


ti>in;i >N  or  .MI:.  SJIKU.KY,  or  ALAHAMA.  27 

from  the  State,  without  solicitation.  He  hesitated  to  actvpt 
the  Humiliation,  notwithstanding  the  complimentary  manner  in 
which  it  had  been  tendered,  as  by  its  acceptance  he  sacrificed  a 
I:ii-L;r  and  very  lucrative  law  practice.  The  record  which  he  made 
during  his  service  here  is  known  to  the  country. 

Mr.  Speaker,  with  my  feeble  words  I  feel  that  I  will  not  In- 
able  to  do  justice  to  the  character  of  my  dead  friend.  Sublime  in 
his  courage,  exalted  in  his  ambition,  noble  in  his  patriotism,  pure 
in  his  instincts,  honorable  in  his  actions,  true  in  his  friendships, 
THOMAS  H.  HKKNDON  combined  in  his  character  more  of  the 
human  virtues  and  graces  than  any  man  I  ever  knew.  His  cour 
age  manifested  itself  in  the  very  beginning  of  his  career,  and  was 
alwavs  a  conspicuous  element  in  his  character.  Born  of  pure  mo 
tives  and  lofty  aspirations,  it  sustained  him  in  the  pursuits  of  pri 
vate  life  and  in  the  discharge  of  public  duties,  and  enabled  him  to 
do  right  alwavs,  even  in  opposition  to  popular  sentiment.  (iuidcd 
by  wisdom  and  prudence,  quickened  by  a  sensitive  conscience,  he 
confronted  danger  when  encountered  in  the  discharge  of  duty  with 
a  calm  fearlessness  that  made  him  invincible. 

His  ambition  was  of  that  exalted  kind  which  lifts  .a  man  above 
mere  personal  considerations.  He  accepted  position  more  to  en 
large  his  field  and  increase  his  powers  of  usefulness  than  to  gratify 
selfish  ends.  He  was  not  indifferent  to  popular  applause,  but  he 
never  sought  it.  His  highest  ambition  was  to  do  his  duty  well. 
His  patriotism  was  instinctive.  He  loved  his  country  with  devo 
tion.  He  believed  in  her  republican  institutions,  and  favored  the 
largest  degree  of  liberty  consistent  with  the  good  of  society  and  the 
well-l>eing  of  the  citizen.  At  the  same  time  he  recognized  the 
claims  of  Government  upon  the  citizen,  and  was  ever  prompt  to 
respond  to  the  call  of  public  duty — to  spend  and  l>e  spent  in  t In- 
service  of  his  country. 

In  his  actions  he  was  ever  honorable.  His  appreciative  sense 
of  honor  led  him  to  make  any  sacrifice  for  its  vindication,  for  he 
was  utterly  incapable  of  doing  a  dishonorable  act.  In  his  nature 
he  was  refined.  His  instincts  were  pure,  his  feelings  cultivated. 
He  was  a  rare  combination  of  bravery,  tenderness,  and  truth.  In 


28     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  II.  HERN  DON. 

his  friendships  ho  was  sincere  and  faithful.  No  man  ever  enjoyed 
his  friendship  who  was  not  impressed  with  the  nobility  of  his  char 
acter  and  the  fidelity  of  his  nature.  His  intellectual  attainments 
were  of  a  high  order.  He  did  not  have  that  rugged  strength  of 
intellect  which  attracts  attention  by  its  brusqueness  rather  than  its 
force,  but  his  mind  possessed  all  the  elements  of  intellectuality  in 
their  purest  form  and  so  well  organized  that  he  enjoyed  powers 
far  above  most  men.  To  these  great  natural  gifts,  improved  and 
strengthened  by  industrious  and  careful  culture,  may  be  ascribed 
the  large  measure  of  success  which  he  attained  in  the  various 
walks  of  life.  His  exalted  character,  his  intellectual  powers,  his 
extensive  and  varied  learning,  his  brilliant  literary  attainments, 
united  with  his  industrious,  systematic,  and  painstaking  habits, 
gave  him  capabilities  for  usefulness  that  bore  abundant  fruit  all 
through  his  active  life. 

His  life  was  devoted  to  public  interests.  He  loved  his  native 
State,  and  his  best  years  were  given  to  her  service.  In  peace  and 
in  war  his  wisdom  and  courage  have  made  their  impress  upon 
every  page  of  her  history.  To  him  as  much  as  to  any  other  man 
in  the  State  are  we  indebted  for  the  restoration  of  our  government 
to  the  control  of  our  intelligent  and  virtuous  classes.  To  his  wis 
dom  and  patriotism  we  owe  many  of  the  wisest  provisions  in  our 
present  State  constitution. 

Alabama  will  always  hold  in  grateful  remembrance  the  valuable 
services  of  her  gifted  son,  whose  courage  so  strikingly  illustrated 
her  manhood,  and  whose  wise  counsels  contributed  so  largely  to 
her  prosperity  and  the  advancement  of  her  civilization. 

My  personal  relations  with  Colonel  HEKNDOX  cannot  be  described 
in  language.  I  loved  him  as  I  loved  my  own  soul.  Drawn  to 
him  by  a  mysterious  power  which  I  could  not  resist,  the  feelings, 
aspirations,  and  secrets  of  -my  heart  were  confided  to  him  with 
perfect  faith.  His  tender  sympathy  was  my  consolation  in  the 
hour  of  my  sorrows;  his  thoughtful  advice  was  my  ready  assist 
ance  in  the  hour  of  trouble.  I  miss  his  friendship;  I  miss  his 
love.  He  is  gone ;  he  is  dead.  He  has  crossed  over  the  river  and 
is  resting  gently  ill  the  shade  of  the  tree  of  eternal  life.  His  toils 


AltnitKSS  OF  MR.  GATES,  OF  ALARAMA.  29 

and  his  sorrows  are  ended.      Ho  is  now  gathering  the  fruits  of  his 
great  and  good  life.     rPlio  joys  of  Heaven  aro  his. 

Decorated  with  a  crown  of  glory,  the  reward  of  the  virtues 
which  adorned  his  pure  lifo  hero,  ho  awaits  ns  beyond  the  grave. 
Mav  (Jod  help  mo  so  to  live  that  when  this  life  is  ended  I  mav  ho 
permitted  to  join  him  in  that  haven  of  rest,  where  the  friendship 
and  love  which  united  ns  here  may  be  revived  and  intensified 
through  all  eternity. 


Address  of  Mr.   GATES,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  That  day  in  a  man's  destiny  which  is  like  no 
other  is  his  death  day,  "  a  transition  out  of  visible  time  into  invis 
ible  eternity,"  and  if  not  to  be  lamented,  because  the  inevitable  for 
all,  vet  it  awakens  a  fooling  of  a  wo  and  deepest  interest  in  the  hearts  of 
all,  who  must  experience  profound  sorrow  when  one  of  the  best  and 
most  useful  is  called  hence.  After  what  has  been  so  well  said  con 
cerning  the  character  and  virtues  of  my  late  colleague  I  fear  that 
anvthing  I  may  add  will  but  mar  the  beautiful  imagery  and  pa 
thetic  eloquence  which  have  been  expressed  in  words  as  perspicu 
ous,  pure,  and  select  as  the  characteristics  of  him  whose  career  thev 
so  faithfully  portray. 

But,  sir,  I  know  and  loved  him  too  well  to  remain  silent  when 
the  last  sad  tributes  here  in  this  grand  old  Hall,  where  he  served 
his  people  and  country  long  and  faithfully,  are  l>cing  paid  to  his 
memory.  No  oulogium,  however  high  ;  no  feeling  we  can  express, 
however  deep;  no  praise  we  can  utter,  however  extravagant,  can 
l>enefit  him  now  or  add  to  his  spotless  name;  that  is  as  unsullied 
and  enduring  as  the  placid  waters  of  the  beautiful  bay  on  whose 
shores  he  lived  and  loved  so  well  and  where  his  honored  ashes  now 
repose. 

As  the  great  rock  in  midoceau  serves  as  the  (sternal  beacon  to 
the  mariner,  so  his  solid  character  stands  a  model,  challenging  emu 
lation  by  the  young  men  of  his  native  Alabama.  His  scholarly 
attainments  and  thorough  elementary  training  made  him  an  accu 
rate  logician  and  gave  him  reputation  a>  a  lawyer.  He  wasasensi- 


30     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

ble  talker  rather  than  an  eloquent  speaker.  He  was  less  ornate 
than  solid.  He  knew  that  in  this  practical  age  eloquence  of  speech 
is  of  secondary  importance  to  scope  and  variety  of  knowledge ;  but 
the  delicacy  of  his  constitution  limited  his  research  and  hindered 
his  progress.  Cf  medium  height,  slender  stature,  and  sallow  com 
plexion,  his  manner,  while  civil,  respectful,  and  dignified,  was  also 
classical,  clerical,  and  proud,  rather  than  cordial ;  hence  with  those 
who  did  not  know  him  well  he  was  not  popular.  But  beneath  his 
cold  exterior  there  was  nowhere  a  warmer,  more  generous,  sympa 
thetic,  or  braver  heart. 

He  was  of  high  social  qualities.  His  hospitality  and  liberality 
were  bounded  only  by  the  extent  of  his  means.  If  lie  had  a  fault 
— and  who  has  not? — it  was  prodigality  for  his  family  and  friends. 
To  know  him  was  to  love  him,  and  witli  those  who  knew  him  lie 
was  immensely  popular. 

My  acquaintance  with  him  began  in  1867,  and  during  the  four 
succeeding  years  we  served  together  on  the  Democratic  State  ex 
ecutive  committee.  In  comprehensiveness  and  breadth  of  thought 
he  was  equaled  by  few,  and  in  executive  ability  surpassed  by  none. 
In  1872  he  was  my  successful  rival  for  the  Democratic  nomina 
tion  for  governor  of  Alabama.  But  this,  instead  of  estranging  us, 
as  such  rivalries  too  frequently  do,  made  us  faster  friends.  Dur 
ing  the  sixteen  years  of  our  acquaintance  our  friendship  grew 
stronger,  and  was  attested  by  tears  at  our  final  separation. 

Novalis,  a  German  writer,  has  said  that  a  strong  character  is 
but  a  completely  fashioned  will.  This  found  illustration  in  mv 
late  lamented  colleague.  His  intellect  was  the  servant  of  his  will. 
That  deep  conviction,  that  firm  resolve,  like  the  electric  lamp  on 
the  Dome  of  the  Capitol,  shed  its  gentle  yet  steady  effulgence  on 
all  around  him  and  won  their  admiration. 

Brilliant  intellects  with  deficient  will-power  are  too  often  like 
the  threads  of  silver  ore  which  lie  scattered  here  and  there,  daz 
zling  and  encouraging  by  their  brilliancy  and  surface  richness,  but, 
alas!  when  the  deluded  miner's  expectancv  is  at  its  zenith  the  vein 
vanishes  and  his  hope  sinks  with  it.  But  that  of  my  departed 
friend — light  placer  on  the  surface — deep  down  was  a  Comstock 
lode.  The  strong  will  is  the  strong  man. 


AIHWKSS  OF  MR.    WILLIAMS,  Of  ALABAMA.  31 

His  devoted  wife  and  grief  stricken  orphans  remain  (o  cherish 
his  name,  hut  the  loving  husband,  the  indulgent  and  tender  father, 
tlir  true  friend,  the  hrave  soldier,  the  wise  statesman,  the  sterling 
patriot,  the  |>erfect  gentleman,  THOMAS  IIo.\m>  HKUMMIN,  is 
gone  from  us  forever,  leaving  to  his  children  the  richest  of  all  in 
heritances,  a  sjwtlcss  reputation. 


Address  of  Mr.  WILLIAMS,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  SPKAKF.U:  The  relation  the  cradle  hears  to  the  grave,  is  pain- 
fullv  suggestive,  of  hoth  their  near  and  natural  kiudredship.  The 
one,  is  succeeded  hy  the  other,  as  surely  as  wave  follows  wave,  in 
the  el)h  and  flow  of  the  tide.  The  shrieks  ushering  into  the  familv 
home  the  one,  unerringly  foretell  their  approaching  counter  response, 
in  the  wails  at  the  hrink  of  the  other.  The  one,  is  the  known  re 
ceptacle  of  our  helpless  loved  ones  for  the  time,  the  other  for  all 
remaining  time. 

In  the  one,  undisturbed  quietude  and  repose,  are  the  conditions 
sought  and  fostered;  in  the  other,  attained  in  a  spell  unhrokeu,  bv 
our  most  pitiful  endeavors.  In  the  one,  we  deposit  the  opening 
flowers  of  our  love,  sweetly  dimpling  in  angelic  beauty;  in  the 
other,  their  faded  and  dissolving  forms,  distressingly  precious,  to 
our  bleeding  hearts.  The  one,  invokes  our  wakeful  vigils,  for  the 
continued  vitality  and  healthful  forthcoming  of  its  loved  occu 
pants;  the  other,  our  most  agonizing  solicitude  for  their  revitalitv 
and  immortal  uprising.  Around  the  one,  our  hearts  carol  the  lays 
of  sweet  affection  and  love;  over  the  other,  afford  heaven  and  earth, 
incontestable  proof  of  their  depth  and  devotion. 

This  untiring  devotion  to  the  sleeping  dead, quickens  into  exist 
ence  an  attendant  genius,  standing  upon  the  prostrate  demon  of 
skepticism,  dissipating  the  clouds  of  his  foul  doubts,  wherewith  he 
had  sought  to  obscure  the  light  of  the  shir  of  Bethlehem  ;  and 
proclaiming  it  all  around  the  world,  that  the  love  enkindled  over  the 


32     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  II.  HERNDON. 

cradle,  will  not  expire  or  flicker,  but  shall  survive  with  increased 
and  increasing  luster,  at  and  beyond  the  grave. 

That  the  divine  agency  of  the  grave,  in  its  exercises  upon  our 
hearts,  is  to  our  affection  and  love,  rather  that  of  the  crucible  to 
the  treasures  of  the  refiner.  That  phoenix-like,  rising  from  the 
desolation  and  dust  of  that  sorrowful  and  instrumental  test,  and 
free  of  all  base  alloy,  our  affections  and  love  are  divinely  enstainped 
with  the  seal  of  an  immortality,  proclaiming  its  birthright  in  the 
Heaven -ordained  resolve  to  go  to  our  loved  ones,  by  acting  out 
through  God's  revealed  means  a — 

Life  that  shall  send 

A  challenge  to  its  end, 

And  when  if,  comes  say,  Welcome  friend. 

That,  this  Heaven-ordained  resolve,  grounded  in  its  firm  founda 
tion  upon  the  immovable  rock  of  ages,  nurtures  and  commissions 
forthward,  the  invigorated  and  entwining  tendrils  of  our  indestruc 
tible  affections  and  love.  That,  these  tendrils,  emanating  from  a 
sacred  soil  of  the  heart,  not  of  the  earth  earthy,  and  wherein  it  is 
the  pleasure  of  the  divine  Husbandman  to  culture  his  immortal 
exotics,  lap  over  into  the  unknown  world  in  pursuit  of  the  absent 
loved  ones,  inspired  by  the  truth  of  faith's  conviction,  that— 

Who  in  life's  battle  firm  doth  -stand, 
Shall  bear  hope's  tender  blossoms 
Into  the  silent  land. 

That,  in  their  ascending  and  unvarying  course  homeward,  they 
will  entwine  and  thread  the  golden  trackway  of  faith,  up  to  that 
happy  land,  that  is  fairer  than  day. 

That,  in  the  sweet  by  and  by,  and  while  awaiting  us  over  there, 
they  will  be  trailed  by  a  faith,  reuniting  our  hearts  in  indissoluble 
ties  with  the  dear  loved  ones  gone  before. 

Could  the  innumerable  tendrils  of  love,  which  throughout  the 
ages  have  entwined  their  ascent  homeward,  all  be  unveiled  to  the 
human  eye,  if  for  an  instant  only,  methinks  the  domain  of  space 
would  glisten  and  glitter  with  their  heaven-tinted  weft  and  woof, 


.un>i:i:ss  OF  MI:,  n  //././. I.MS,  or  ALAKAMA.  33 

while  the  boundless  dome  tit  tin  mansions  of  the  blest  would  ap 
pear  in  the  enchanting  distance,  canopied  with  their  felicitous  beautv 
:md  unrivaled  splendor. 

O,  liiiul!  O,  iaiid! 
For  all  the  broken-hearted 

The  niil<!<  -I  herald  hv  our  fate  allotted 
Iteekons,  aiul  with  inverted  torch  doth  stand 
To  load  us  with  a  gentle  hand 

Unto  the  land  of  the  great  departed, 
Into  the  silent  land  ! 

What  fragrant  clusters  of  love's  undying  tendrils,  would  bo  seen 
in  that  silent  land,  embosoming  and  emlx>wering  in  their  special 
entwinings  the  sweel  and  lovable  spirit  of  the  late  and  honorable 
THOMAS  II.  HKKNDON,  of  Alabama,  could  only  be  dependent  upon 
how  many  there  were  who  came  to  a  true  knowledge  ^)f  him  while 
dwelling  here  upon  the  earth  ;  for,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  ha/ard  nothing 
in  saying  to  those  who  truly  knew  him,  none  came  to  that  knowl 
edge  but  to  love  him. 

Would  that  within  range  of  subserviency  to  my  call,  slumbered 
supernatural  powers,  the  very  inherent  magnetism  whereof,  when 
awakened,  evolved  original  and  elaborate  skill,  in  the  striking  and 
refined  tracings,  the  pure  and  delicate  touch,  and  the  polished,  cor 
rect  finish  of  subjects, eliciting  their  transcendent  dealing. 

Kven  then  won-ld  I  barely  lxi  equal  to  the  emergency  of  present 
ing  him  as  he  truly  existed,  than  which  no  tongue  or  pencil  ever 
described  a  more  pleasing  and  attractive  image.  Even  then  would 
I  be  trammeled  with,  if  not  overcome  bv  misgivings  of  success,  in 
an  effort  to  hold  him  forth  to  those  unfavored  with  a  knowledge  of 
his  physical,  mental,  and  moral  outfit,  robed  in  the  grandeur  of  his 
finished  and  vivid  portraiture.  Powers  thus  scarcely  less  than  mi 
raculous  in  their  exhibitions,  should  at  least  be  commanded  to  unveil 
to  their  enraptured  view  his  stately  person,  magnificent  figure,  manlv 
face,  and  towering,  polished  brow,  ornamented  in  the  majestv  of 
exquisite  features,  and  wondrous  in  their  enkindled  and  enkindling 
inspiration. 

Prominent  among  these  gems  of  nature's  royalty,  were  his  eagle- 
Ix'amiug  eyes,  the  luster  whereof,  was  irresistible  iu  the  fascinations 
3  HE 


34  LIFK  AXD  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  //.   HKRXIWN. 

of  their  unexcelled  charms;  his  finely  marked,  well  defined,  ex 
tended  mouth,  whoso  thin,  seamed,  compressed  lips,  uttoringly 
besj>oke  volumes,  in  character  and  will-power  ;  his  well  set,  thor 
oughly  architects!,  Saxon  nose,  jaw,  and  chin,  whose  classic  mold, 
significantly  indicated  their  inseparable  attendance  upon  rare,  lumi 
nous  forces  and  well  -grounded  jxnvcrs.  I  would  alike  be  depend 
ent  upon  that  miraculous  power,  for  the  ability  to  depict  with  a 
vitality  corresponding  to  that  of  life,  his  penetrating  and  captivat 
ing  expression  of  countenance;  his  looks,  which  had  something  in 
them  so  superexcellent  and  that  was  so  wanting  in  a  name;  expres 
sion  and  looks,  generated  and  born  of,  nurtured  and  matured  by 
the  inspiring  glow  and  light,  illuming  and  wreathing  this  blended 
association,  this  grand  assemblage  of  facial  features  and  parts,  pro 
nouncedly  imposing  in  the  display  of  his  thoroughbred  pirson- 
no-0 — a  personage  calmly  reposing  upon  its  conscious  and  unstinted 
strength,  as  it  unfolded  an  entirety,  embodying  the  richest  and 
rarest  profusion  of  nature's  unbounded  liberality,  promoting  him 
to  the  high  rank  reserved  for  those  enstamped  with  her  marked 
favoritism,  and  sweetly  inducing  the  conviction  that  none  was  ever 
more  fashioned,  favored,  and  finished  after  the  divine  creative 
image  of  his  Maker. 

In  despair  of  attaining  to  the  goal  of  an  ambition  invoked  in 
the  interest  of  a  consummately  achieved  portraiture  of  him,  I  find 
myself  remitted  to  the.  cheerless  undertaking,  and  with  faltering 
expectations  of  its  fulfillment,  of  what  I  crave  may  at  least  suffice- 
as  an  acceptably  wrought  reminder  thereof — in  pursuit  of  this  last 
resort,  I  affirm,  nnd  what  was  so  well  known  to  those  acquainted 
with  him,  that  in  the  particulars  mentioned,  including  withal  his 
entire  mental  and  physical  conformation,  a  total  exemption  therein 
from  any  deformity  or  blemish,  afforded  the  least  significant  feature 
in  his  prepossessing  and  brilliant  array.  In  the  meanwhile,  their 
clustered  and  inspiring  beauties,  their  diffused  and  animating  en 
chantment,  sealed  with  nature's  impress  of  rare  forces  and  high-born 
j>owers,  would  have  invested  the  most  exacting  and  unyielding 
critic,  with  a  spirit  of  positive  inhibition  to  all  promptings,  the 
least  suggestive  of  any  change  whatever,  in  a  make  up  and  finish 


.1 /»/i/; /•><>   OF    >//;.    U////M/Y   "I    Al.AllAMA.  35 

win-rein,  all  wen-  -<•  loval.lv  li;iriii»nii>ii~,  impressively  engaging,  and 

attractively  majefttic. 

Iii  hi-  -lately  jK'rson,  in  his  sinew  ami  muscles,  his  nerve,  ener 
gies,  power,  and  lx>ttom,  Mr.  HKKXDO.N,  like  the  eagle  or  thorough 
bred  courser,  was  uoenoomibered  with  any  of  the  dross  or  incubus 
resulting  from  redundancy  of  physical  matter.  If  in  his  j>ersoii 
apparent  delicacy  was  to  IK-  seen,  it  may  well  IK-  remarked  it  was 
untrainmeled  with  any  latent  physical  or  mental  effeminacy.  Man 
ifestations  unmistakable  in  their  teachings,  abounded  in  the  texture 
and  filter  of  his  heft  and  elements,  foretelling  his  ample  capacity 
for  active  lal>or,  thought,  and  s|>eed,  interlinked  with  correspond 
ing  |M»wcrs  of  clastic  endurance,  and  that  when  brought  into  lull 
play,  they  would  not  fail  to  put  upon  their  highest  mettle  any  and  all. 
who  essayed  in  the  commendable,  if  jn-rilous  task,  of  continuing 
ahrcast  with  him. 

In  his  grand  figure,  he  would  have  been  a  conceded  and  esteemed 
model  for  .symmetry  to  have  pursued  and  copied,  while  in  his  man 
ners,  he  was  so  courtly,  in  his  action,  so  unaffectedly  dignified,  ami 
in  his  courtesies  of  standard  and  hii;h  hrecdin^,  so  sweet,  he  could 
have  l>een  successfully  presented  as  their  hailed  preceptor,  whose 
exemplary  tutorage  would  have  challenged  the  profound  attention, 
if  not  the  unqualified  approval  of  all.  Moreover,  in  the  particu 
lars  pertaining  to  pleasing  neatness  and  commendable  taste  and  tidi- 
IM •— ,  he  was  what  all  would  have  held  him  to  lx-,  a  finished  pat 
tern,  disjK-nsinjr  with  suggestions  of  improvement. 

From  his  bewitching  countenance,  uniformly  Hashed  and  radiated 
a  beaming  and  bright  expression  of  intelligence,  sparkling  as  the 
diamond.  Indeed,  he  was  in  every  particular  and  essential  enter 
ing  into  and  constituting  his  elements,  finish,  and  polish,  naught 
less  in  his  brilliant  display  and  superb  excellencies,  than  a  veritable 
diamond  of  nature  in  the  great  multitude  of  the  human  nice;  one, 
according  to  our  American  taste,  too  superexcellent  and  invaluable 
in  its  ingredients  and  composition  to  IK-  misapplied  in  associations 
or  comparisons  with  crowns  of  royalty,  andy<t  never  more  fitly  in 
its  impressive  place,  than  when  immortally  bedecking  the  divinely 
royal  brow  of  its  own  maternity,  Dame  Nature. 


36     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

Besides,  this  blight,  intelligent  express! on ,  acquired  new  and  in 
creasing  luster  and  attractiveness  from  a  wreathed  and  savored 
sweetness  of  temper,  profusely  gentle,  kind,  true,  and  manly;  a 
temper  and  disposition  highly  relishable  in  its  refreshing  and  reviv 
ifying  influences  to  all  mingling  and  associating  with  him.  For  his 
was  inherently  a  genial  and  companionable  nature,  enticing  and 
luring  in  its  exhilarating  savor  and  fragrancy,  insomuch  its  happy 
effects  would  have  been  no  more  apparent  and  palatable  had  they 
been  susceptible  to,  and  substantially  realized  by  its  fortunate  recip 
ients,  through  the  tests  of  their  natural  senses. 

As  a  resulting  out-turn,  a  natural  and  crowning  finish  to  a  com 
bination  so  uniquely  interesting,  he  embodied  and  prefaced  an  in 
terwoven  beauty  of  person  and  countenance,  adjudging  him  rightly 
and  decreeing  him  justly  to  be  "  a  joy  forever."  This  pronounced 
beauty,  in  which  he  was  so  strikingly  arrayed,  was  attractively  ar 
resting,  even  to  the  listless  observer  favored  only  with  a  passing 
view,  and  who  could  not  fail  to  render  him  the  just  homage  of  his 
involuntary  admiration. 

Supcradded  to  all  this  wealth  of  his  enrichment  by  these  most 
enviable  parts,  traits,  and  characteristics,  was  his  pre-eminence  as 
the  soul  of  honor,  truth,  and  unalloyed  physical  and  moral  courage. 
Indeed,  he  never  looked,  spoke,  nor  acted  otherwise,  and  was  thus 
marked  and  unerringly  emblazoned  to  mankind,  insomuch  those 
little  acted  upon  by  these  noble  and  ennobling  attributes,  failed  not 
to  recogni/e  and  appreciate  his  birthright  and  divine  title  to  them. 

A  most  brilliant  and  eloquent  son  of  America,  deplorably  pros 
trated  upon  the  ground  by  the  baneful  effects  of  inebriate  habits, 
was  stumbled  upon  at  night  by  one,  then,  now,  and  likely  ever  to 
be,  the  most  eminent  of  all  her  renowned  jurists.  In  reply  to  his 
apologetic  inquiry  as  to  whom  he  had  so  regretfully  thus  offended, 
the  recumbent  brother,  with  eyes  peering  up  into  the  presiding 
beauties  of  the  evening  firmament,  and  in  a  voice  ringing  out  in  the 
stilly  night  musical  and  touching,  responded,  "A  fallen  star,  yet 
beautiful  and  brilliant  in  the  dust."  The  star  of  Mr.  HERNDON'S 
beauty  and  brilliancy,  unsubjected  to  intrusions  in  the  dust,  moved 
grandly  and  triumphantly  on  in  the  safe  and  sublime  orbit  outlined 


AIHtRKSS  OF  MR.    WILLIAMS,  OF  ALAHAMA.  37 

l»v  tin-  King  of  all  true  nobility  fur  iwtmv's  ordained  barons  of 
liberu,  among  whom  ho  stood  by  divine  right  a  born  and  tower 
ing  chieftain. 

His  mental  parts  were  pre-eminently  appropriate,  and  exaltedly 
becoming, ID  the  endowment  and  adornment  of  our  brother  in  his 
native  dignity  and  truly  majestic  display,  rather  than  as  so  feebly 
and  inadequately  herewith  sketched.  His  innate  and  imperial 
mental  forces,  were  robustly  musenlai  and  active.  Unconscious  of 
burden  therefrom,  they  were,  in  massiv  eeapability,  equal  to  the 
most  extended  thought,  and  linking  enforcing  argumentation — for 
he  was  mentally  stout,  erectly  balanced,  and  firmly  planted  by 
nature — upon  the  unwavering  feet  of  an  intuitive  logician  of  mag 
ical  skill  and  power. 

His  perceptive  faculties,  potently  penetrating  and  pellucidly  clear, 
were  marshaled  and  presided  over  by  no  less  a  luminary  than  if 
continuously  conipanionated  with  some  morning  star,  one  of  a 
glittering  host  apparently  bestudding  his  intellectual  firmament. 
Likewise  with  his  descriptive  forces,  equally  acted  upon  from 
the  same  brilliant  canopy,  rendering  them  vividly  photographic 
in  their  nature  and  verifying  action,  even  so  much,  the  object  or 
theme  he  sought  to  array  seemed  present  with,  and  visibly  standing 
Ix'fore  you. 

His  exhaustless  fund  of  startling  and  inimitable  humor,  his  blist 
ering  and  withering  satire,  and  his  soul-upheaving,  heart-melting 
pathos  never  failed  to  come  to  the  front  when  occasion  demanded, 
nor  of  robing  his  subject  or  theme  in  the  attire  and  style  suitable 
to,  and  sufficiently  substantial  for  a  full  journey  down  the  columns 
and  currents  of  enduring  history.  For  the  lightnings  of  genius 
Hashed  from  his  eyes  no  less  perspicuously,  than  the  thunders  of 
eloquence  audibly  pealed  from  his  lips.  His  sense  of  the  ridicu 
lous,  was  simply  the  keenest  of  the  keen,  while  his  tact  in  its  ex- 
[>osure,  through  rib-testing  exhibitions,  could  not  have  well  IXHJII 
surpassed.  When  thus  engaged,  his  memorable  part  was  upheld 
and  sustained  amid  surroundings  of  ludicrous  scenery,  most  adroitly 
arousing,  in  its  arrangement  by  him,  and  peformed  in  a  manner 
never  to  be  forgotten  by  the  multitudes  inexpressibly  refreshed 
while  thrown  into  unrestrainable  hilarity  thereat. 


38     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HEENDON. 

His  fancy,  or  imagination,  eorruscating  with  the  brilliancy  in 
fused  from  his  mental  firmament,  and  aboundingly  intnitioned  for 
all  the  grand  purposes  of  illuming  with  the  heat  and  glow  of  a  Pro- 
methian  fire  his  mental  furnace,  of  reseating  his  sublime  thoughts 
and  ideas  in  colors  and  beauties  suitable  to  their  natural  dignity 
and  correctly  ascertained  magnitude,  did  not,  however,  sway  the 
scepter  of  power  in  his  well-ordered  and  solid  mind.  It  was  sub 
ordinated  to  the  enforced  position  of  an  ever-present  and  ready 
auxiliary  to  his  sterner,  more  useful  and  enduring  forces — forces 
which  exhumed  and  prepared  the  ore,  forged  and  welded  the  grand 
links,  constituting  the  steeled,  marvelous,  and  resistless  chain  of 
ponderous  argumentation  and  fiery  logic ;  faculties  capable,  and 
with  electric  thought,  of  eliminating  from  his  subject,  and  down  to 
the  bed-rock  thereof,  all  whatsoever  foreign  thereto  or  incongru 
ous  therewith ;  intellectual  instrumentalities,  fraught  with  the  power 
in  their  chemicalizing  action,  of  dissolving  down  to  its  original 
units  the  constituent  elements  of  that  subject,  of  divining  and  dis 
playing  them,  with  whatever  pertained  or  related  thereto,  in  all  its 
phases  and  bearings,  and  with  an  accuracy,  fullness,  and  power  at 
once  herald  ing  the  presence  and  dealing  of  the  master-magician  spirit 
of  the  same;  mentalities  imbued  with  Vulcan  strength  in  their 
intuitive  grasp  of  the  fruitful  and  exhaustive  results  flowing  from 
his  profound  investigations  and  powerful  analysis;  and  in  their 
gigantic  stretches  of  his  sweeping  and  overwhelming  combinations 
they  upheld,  marshaled,  and  thundered  his  deductions  and  conclu 
sions,  with  a  perspicuity  and  an  intensity  of  feeling  and  thought, 
few  if  any  would  dare  wantonly  to  provoke,  and  fewer  still  would 
volunteer  to  improve. 

No  renowned,  invincible  chieftain,  ever  descried  with  more  un 
erring  certitude  the  line  upon  which  to  plant  the  legions  of  his 
bristling  columns  for  the  approaching  fray,  and  in  more  frightful 
array  to  the  foe,  than,  with  a  strategy  born  of  Omnipotence,  did  he 
align  the  assemblage  of  his  grand  mental  marshals  pending  mo 
mentous  struggles,  invoking  their  rally  around  his  talismanic  ban 
ner.  With  a  skill  that  was  consummate  and  a  tact  that  was  supreme, 
they  were  wielded  and  hurled  upon  the  lines  of  the  opposing  forces 


.i />/>/;/•»•  <>r  MI;.  WILLIAMS,  OF  .tL.in.iM.i.  31) 

with  telling -elllvt.  No  redoubtable  knight  II|M>M  thenrena  of  a  tour- 
nainriii.  \\iili  hi-  plumed  fame  rendering  illustrious  the  legends  of 
literature,  and  acting  under  a  cordon  of  the  inspiring  eye*  nparkliug 
from  the  circles  of  assembled  beauty  and  grace,  ever  displayed  a 
nioiv  gallant  mien  and  chivalrie  coimige,  than  did  he  unveil,  when 
baring  his  helmet  to  the  foe,  he  poised  his  trenchant  Made,  braced 
upon  the  lion-hearted  breast  of  his  indomitable  will-power,  and 
crowned  with  the  dauntless  majesty  of  his  own  native  grandeur. 

Powers  so  august  and  knightly  in  their  brilliant  army  and  ac 
tion,  so  pronounced  and  defiant  in  their  development  and  out 
come,  could  have  l>een  no  otherwise  than  manifestly  and  essentially 
Herculean  in  their  origin.  Their  pre-eminence,  however,  was  aug 
mented  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  by  being  the  stalwart  factors 
of  a  mind  thoroughly  organized  and  ramified  in  its  unbounded 
area,  height,  and  depth — factors  rarely  combined  in  one,  whose 
unification  was  properly  a  notice  to  mankind  of  increase  in  their 
separately  formidable,  but  when  aggregated,  their  then  accumula 
tive  and  aggressive  force.  They  were  crowned  with  the  prowess 
of  a  signal  and  rigorous  training  by,  and  a  royal  investiture  in,  the 
classic  armory  of  thorough,  finished,  scholastic  attainments.  Thus 
armed  and  equipped  with  all  the  needful  instrumentalities  for  what 
ever  contests  might  arise,  however  heated,  or  to  the  hilt,  if  you 
please,  lie  stood  ever  ready  for  the  combat,  and  with  his  incisive 
wca  uis  Hashing  with  the  burnished  polish  resultant  from  a 
t'  .rough  research,  a  profound  investigation,  and  a  wise  understand 
ing  of  his  subject. 

Mr.  Speaker,  generations  will  come  and  go,  before  Alabama 
again  may  be  able  and  equally  so  fortunate,  as  to  honor  this  Hall 
with  the  presence  of  another  such  son,  another  rarely  endowed,  ex 
quisitely  adorned,  and  wisely  matured  THOMAS  H.  HKHXDON;  one, 
whose  dutiful  bearing  toward  and  in  her  behalf,  was  without  com- 
_plaint  or  reproach, and  above  suspicion;  one,  whose  recognized  re 
lations  to  her,  whether  as  a  private  citi/en  or  a  public  servant, 
whether  she  was  engulfed  in  the  horrors  of  war  or  blissful  in  the 
possession  of  i>eace,  whether  reveling  in  prosperity's  outturn  or 
cast  iuto  the  pits  of  adversity,  could  have  been  rendered  no  more 


40  LIFE -AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

pure,  true,  and  filial  in  its  sacredly  fulfilled  obligations  and  devo 
tion,  than  if  borne  toward  the  affectionate  and  honored  mother  of 
his  birth  ;  one,  who  ever  stood  calmly  ready  to  launch,  with  a 
heroism  rivaling  that  of  the  bravest  of  the  brave,  his  earnest, 
honest,  and  tireless  endeavors,  even  to  the  extremity  of  the  pledge 
of  his  life,  fortune,  and  saered  honor,  in  the  defense  of  her  rights 
and  the  preservation  of  her  untarnished  fame,  who  was  ever  saga 
cious,  wise,  fearless,  and  faithful  in  all  his  aets  in  that  behalf,  ever 
unswerved  or  moved  therein  by  selfish  considerations,  other  than 
those  conspiring  to  her  growth  and  prosperity,  ever  uncramped  or 
acted  upon  thereby,  through  any  personal  ambition,  other  than  in 
so  far  as  it  promised  to  promote  her  honor  and  glory,  embedding 
his  dauntless  stand  unyieldingly  by  her  fortunes  and  honor,  he 
contended  with  all  the  power  of  his  regal  forces  for,  and  by  every 
honorable  method  attainable,  enforced,  enlarged,  and  elevated  her 
material,  civil,  social,  and  political  existence  and  liberty,  as  a  great 
American  Commonwealth,  her  constitutional  duties,  rights,  privi 
leges,  and  immunities,  as  a  proud  State  of  this  grand  family  union 
of  States. 

His  unwavering  devotion  to,  and  unfaltering  endeavors  for  the 
good  and  glory  of  his  own  Commonwealth,  were  not  without  their 
correlative  blessings  alike  to  all  the  other  States;  for  the  whole 
some  well-being  of  no  member  of  the  body  politic  could  well  be 
promoted,  without  a  resulting  good  therefrom  to  the  entire  mem 
bership,  even  when  not  so  intended.  But,  sir,  it  would  be  a  rank 
injustice  to  his  revered  memory,  for  lodgment  to  be  suffered  a  con 
viction,  that  the  fervid  patriotism,  generating,  nourishing,  and  matur 
ing  this  sublime  devotion  to,  this  unbounded  interest  in  the  general 
welfare  and  honor  of  his  own  State,  was  confined  alone  to  her  borders, 
or  those  of  her  soil. 

Not  wishing  to  encumber  your  time  with  a  recital  of  his  many 
private  and  public  acts,  and  whose  very  essence  was  fraught  with 
overwhelming  refutations  of  an  implication  his  instincts  would 
have  scorned,  and  rebelled  interminably  against,  allow  me,  with 
all  becoming  modesty,  to  suggest  that  the  patriotism,  like  charity, 
its  parent  stem,  which  distills  its  benign  influences  and  blessings 


I  /</</, •/>.-,  »l    .»//,'.    \\~ILUAM8,  Of  ALAItAMA.  41 

profusely  throughout  tlic  thresholds  of  its  own  borders,  is  the  alone 
one  ever  yet  commissioned  by  nature  and  countersigned  by  Heaven 
lor  a  journey  abroad;  lor  that  philanthropic  visitation  on  \vhieh  it 
was  his  Ixdil  and  fond  delight  actively  to  engage,  whose;  confines 
were  never  loss  contracted  than  the  Ixmmls  of  his  own  glorious 
country — vea,  from  the  outposts  of  whose  bounds,  it  was  his  c<[iial 
satisfaction,  imrofrainingly  to  wing  his  fruitful  thoughts  and  bliss 
ful  conceptions  in  the  interest  of  the  entire  human  family  of  the 
world,  speeding  them  to  an  uncalled  halt,  at  the  line  defined  bv 
Deity,  as  the  exterior  boundary  of  all  finite  advances;  a  boundary 
presenting,  not  only  an  impassable  barrier  to  all  finite  efforts,  but 
also,  clearly  defining  the  line  of  separation  between  the  realizing 
present  and  the  mysterious,  unknown  future,  and  whose  alone  ex 
tended  limits,  constituted  the  only  pent-up  Utica,  known  to  his  ag 
gressive  spirit  in  its  towering  career  of  his  grandly  superendowed 
powers. 

The  sunbeam  sparkled  with  no  more  brightness  to  his  radiant  eve, 
than  to  his  illumed  mind,  flashed  and  glittered,  the  grand  truth  and 
its  essential  philosophy,  so  sublimely  expressed  by  Britain's  world- 
renowned  bard,  when  into  words  his  pen  ingemmed  the  undying 
utterance  that — 

Heaven  from  all  creatures  hides  the  book  of  fate. 

All  but  the.  page  ]> rest- ri bed,  the  present  state; 

From  brutes  what  men,  from  men  what  angels  know. 

Or  who  could  suffer  being  here  below? 

The  lamb  thy  riot  dooms  to  bleed  to-day, 

Had  he  thy  reason  would  he  skip  and  play? 

Pleased  to  the  last,  he^-rops  the  flowery  food, 

And  lieks  the  hand  just  raised  to  shed  his  lilm.il. 

Oh!  blindness  to  the  future  kindly  given, 

That  each  may  tread  the  road  marked  out  by  Heaven, 

Who  sees  with  equal  eye,  as  God  of  all, 

A  hero  perish,  or  a  sparrow  fall ; 

Atoms  or  systems  into  ruin  hurled, 

And  now  a  bubble  burst,  and  now  a  world. 

If  in  my  feeble  efforts  thus  far  made  in  the  display  of  our  brother, 
yon  have  failed  to  see  him,  grappling  in  tireless  heroism  with  all 
the  difficulties  and  troubles  encountering  the  usefulness  and  honor 


42  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  TIIO11AS  II.  HERNDON. 

of  his  pathway  in  life  ;*  if  you  have  not  seen  him,  standing  upon 
mid  muster  of  the  highest  eminence  of  human  thought  attainable 
by  finite  capacity ;  if  you  have  not  seen  him,  in  the  throes  of  a 
genius,  pressing  restively  upon  the  limits  prescribed  to  finite  en 
deavors  for  room  wherein  to  afford  vent  to  cramped  powers,  with  a 
mettle, physical, mental,  and  moral,  no  counterfeit  in  mankind  could 
face,  any  more  than  darkness  can  confront  the  silvery  dawn  of  light ; 
with  a  devotion  to  right  calmly  unshaken  by  the  prospects  of  im 
mediate  death  ;  with  a  disinterested  care  and  concern  for  the  well- 
being  of  his  species,  obscuring  self  entirely  from  view,  then,  and 
indeed,  have  I  failed  to  remind  you  whatever  of  him.  These  were 
priceless  muniments  of  his  more  than  enriched  heritage.  They 
were  his  birthright,  descending  as  heirlooms  from  an  ancestry  who 
preserved  them  unimpaired  and  untarnished,  and  by  him  they  have 
been  alike  transmitted  to  his  own  blood. 

He  descended  from  a  lineage  immortalized,  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  by  William  Lewis  Hcrndon,  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  who  sealed  his  devotion  to  duty  with  his  life  while  in  com 
mand  of  the  mail  steamship  Central  America.  That  noble  sire,  of 
the  lines  of  lineage  from  whence  our  brother  hailed,  had  passed 
through  a  terrific  hurricane  at  sea  only  to  find  his  craft  disabled  and 
irremediably  sinking.  Eliciting  aid  from  some  small  vessels,  hap 
pily  in  sight,  he  effected  the  safety  of  about  one-fourth  of  the  six 
hundred  passengers  and  crew  aboard  the  doomed  craft,  and  to  one 
thus  escaping  from  her  deplorable  fate,  he  committed  his  watch  and 
other  keepsakes,  consigned  to  his  wife,  then  a  resident  of  this  city, 
and  the  mother  of  the  late  and  lamented  consort,  of  our  present  and 
highly  esteemed  most  excellent  President. 

The  abandonment  of  his  sinking  craft,  with  nearly  five  hundred 
souls  yet  remaining  aboard  and  unprovided  for,  was  so  wholly 
at  variance  with  his  keen  sense  of  the  honor  due  to  his  country's 
service,  that  he  remained  upon  her  deck,  wedded  in  death  to  his  post 
of  duty.  The  last  seen  of  him  by  those  escaping  a  watery  grave 
through  the  aid  of  his  unselfish  and  supremely  noble  nature,  was 
his  proud  person,  clad  in  the  full  uniform  of  his  rank  and  service, 
erectly  standing  at  the  wheel-house  of  his  fast  disappearing  steamer. 


»  OF  MI:,  nil  ri  IMS,  or  AL.UI.IM.  i.  43 

In  this  position,  undaunted  ho  -i",,,  I.  until  iln-  waters  had  passed 
over  am!  do>ed  forever  from  (ht'ir  view  this  commander  of  heroic 
blood.  In  language  somewhat  after  that  of  another,  may  I  not 

sav — 

Whilu  lu«  ;i>kril  not  tluit  faim- should  hi.s  merits  rein-arse, 
Though  ho  asked  not  a  shaft  to  lie  sculpt invil  in  vorse, 
The  world  beheld,  in  hi.s  stand,  as  lit*  gave  up  tho^host, 
r.l.'iul.  In -i  mi-  to  i  he  last,  when  hi;  wont  down  at  his  post. 

Among  the  "full  many  gems  of  purest  rays  serene,  the  dark  1111- 
f'atlioined  caves  of  ocean  "  will  reveal  to  the  light  of  the  last  dav, 
none  will  measure  higher  in  the  peerage  of  deathless  devotion  to 
the  post  of  duty,  ever  the  post  of  honor,  than  that  of  William 
Lewis  Herndon. 

The  blush  of  shame  should  mantle  the  fair  cheek  of  our  country 
at  the  thought,  that  until  this  day,  no  monumental  tribute  has  been 
reared  to  the  imperishable  memory  of  one,  who  held  that  country's 
honor  infinitely  higher  than  he  did  his  life.  Such  was  the  heroic 
blood  coursing  the  blue  veins  and  animating  the  big  heart  and 
brainy  power  of  our  deceased  brother,  the  deserved  kinsman  of  the 
immortal  commander  of  the  ill-fated  Central  America. 

Sir,  may  I  not,  without  the  indulgence  of  any  undue  pride, 
mingle  congratulations  with  my  condolences  to  Alabama,  in  her 
good  fortune  to  have  afforded  this  House,  and  the  world,  a  specimen 
of  our  race  so  rare,  noble,  and  commendable?  And  whose  relation 
to  her,  1x3  it  said  to  her  honor,  though  it  may  add  to  the  poignancy 
of  her  grief,  "  was  to  the  manner  born."  His  treasured  dust,  rests 
and  mingles  with  the  perennially  swarded,  the  flowery  odori/ed 
soil  from  whence  it  hailed.  And  the  precious  spot  wherein  that 
priceless  dust  is  entombed,  will  be  pyramided  by  the  hearts  of  her 
people  in  more  arousing,  enduring  grandeur,  and  with  more  pul 
sating,  thrilling  expression  of  thought  and  feeling,  than  was  ever 
inspired  or  prompted  by  any  of  those  materiali/ed,  stupendous 
structures  of  the  East. 

Mr.  Speaker,  however  inscrutable  the  decrees  of  an  all-wise 
Providence  may  appear  to  our  finite  capacity,  the  unconditional 
and  trust-reposing  surrender  of  our  will  to  that  of  His  own,  is  only 


44     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HEKNDOX. 

the  more  necessitated  thereby;  becoming,  as  it  should  ever  be 
esteemed,  our  imperative  duty.  But  how  sublimely  does  it  ascend 
to  the  pinnacle  prominence  of  the  highest  of  all  privileges,  as  well 
as  a  pleasing  duty  when,  facing  up  to  and  beholding  the  unalter 
able  decree  suspended  from  the  scepter  of  His  omnipotent  power, 
we  read  therein  from  His  proclaimed  will  to  mankind,  that  all 
things  shall  work  together  for  good  to  those  who  love  Him. 

With  what  awakened  gratitude  and  heart-bounding  delight, 
should  we  hail  and  embrace  a  duty  so  profound  in  its  blessings,  a 
privilege  so  exalting  in  its  exercises,  as  thus  to  combine  and  har 
ness  all  things  together  in  the  interest  of  earnest  coworkers  for  our 
present  and  eternal  good ;  by  whose  consolidated  strength  the  mass 
of  darkness  and  torturous  doubt  surrounding  and  obscuring  us  from 
His  divine  favors  would  be  dispelled,  as  it  would  open  up  and  wall 
with  His  everlasting  promises  a  clearly  defined  way  from  the  foot 
stool  of  duty,  to  the  elysium  fields  of  unlimited  and  unending  bless 
ings;  happily  conspicuous  among  which  would  be  a  coinheritance 
as  an  adopted  joint  heir  of  His  beneficent  and  exhaustless  estate. 

But  grander  and  more  munificent  than  all  else,  would  be  our  unre 
strained  privilege  of  mingling  and  participating  with  those,  unceas 
ingly  glorifying  His  divine  will.  To  this  inheritance  of  that  estate, 
and  to  this  admission  of  that  grandest  of  all  privileges,  our  esteemed 
friend  and  dearly  beloved  brother  was  ushered,  on  the  twenty-eighth 
day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-three,  and  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  earthly  existence. 

He  had  fought  the  fight,  had  kept  the  faith,  and  clad  in  the 
whole  armor  of  God,  he  stood  poised  upon  the  crumbling  brink, 
traced  by  the  dread  elements  of  the  dark  river,  its  unbaffled  pilot 
skillfully  untying  the  last  tinsel  cable  confining  his  game  spirit  to 
the  shores  of  earth.  With  a  heart  undismayed  by  any  stings  there 
from,  unterrified  by  its  somber,  turbid  surges,  and  reclining  bliss 
fully  upon  the  hope  which  he  had  as  an  anchor  of  his  soul  both 
sure  and  steadfast,  and  which  entereth  into  that  within  the  veil,  he 
calmly  looked  out  upon  the  approach  ing  scenes,  shifted  and  shifting 
under  the  guiding  hand  of  the  Pale  Messenger.  Moving  out 
upon  its  eventful  and  awfully  critical  currents,  he  uplifted  the  tel- 


AlHtRESS  OF  MR.    WILLIAMS,  OF  ALABAMA.  45 

eseo|)o  of  a  faith  in  his  Mediatorial  Master,  the  twin  sister  of  his 
inspiring  hope, and  saw  revealed  there  through  the  extending  hand 
of  deliverance  from  the  arm  of  omnipotent  |>ower  of  his  Merciful 
and  Heavenly  Father. 

Withdrawing  for  the  moment  his  attention  from  the  glorious  in 
sight  thus  afforded  within  the  borders  of  the  silent  land,  and 
intentlv  conscious  that  he  was  upon  the  eve  of  closing  his  eves  in 
instant  death,  he  turned  them  for  the  last  time  here  upon  the  heart 
broken  partner  of  his  toils,  sorrows,  and  joys;  bidding  farewell  to 
this  fitful  dream  of  existence,  he  whispered  in  his  dying  voice  to 
that  justly  dear,  untiringly  devoted,  and  tenderly  loving  helpmate, 
as  he  mingled  there  with  his  last  good -by  on  earth:  "All  is  well 
with  me."  God  succor,  comfort,  and  provide  for  her  desolate, dis 
tressed,  and  sorely  tried  heart  in  this  overwhelming  bereavement, 
is  the  breathing  prayer  of  his  and  her  innumerable  friends 

That  he  should  have  passed  away  from  earth  poor  in  this  world's 
goods,  yet  rich  in  his  unproclaimed  deeds  of  charity,  was  a  late  in 
evitable  to  him — a  fate  induced,  yea,  fixed,  by  a  generous  benevo 
lence  and  whole-souled  charity  for  his  fellows,  too  genuine  ever  to 
allow  its  jK-rishable  trash  to  accumulate  in  hands,  never  closed  in 
the  presence  of  the  needy  and  distressed,  or  under  appeals  for  their 
relief.  His  wealth  of  intellectuality  and  Samaritan  spirit,  inter 
dicted  that  badge  of  poverty,  proclaiming  there  were  none  to  do 
him  homage.  Thousands  of  scores  there  were  of  those  who  real- 

o 

i/ed  a  special  delight  therein.  Acres  who  had  ever  thus  been 
acted  upon,  embracing  all  shades,  grades,  and  conditions  of  society, 
stood  in  sorrow-breathing  silence,  and  with  eyes  bedewed  in  tears 
around  his  bier,  wherewith,  under  the  soil  of  his  birth,  his  idol 
form  was  being  consigned  to  rest  in  the  narrow  confines  of  its  long 
home — multitudes,  embracing  not  only  his  own  State,  but  scattered 
hither  and  thither  throughout  this  broad  land,  though  absent  in 
person,  were  present  and  participating  in  heart-aggrieved  contem 
plations,  the  solemn  ceremonies  of  that  mournful  occasion. 

The  fiat  for  his  transition,  found  him  in  the  fruitful  maturings 
of  the  golden  autumn  of  his  earthly  career,  richly  ladened  with 
and  abounding  useful,  rare,  and  snperexcellent  fruits;  fruits  en- 


46  LIFE  AND  CTJAILiCTEE  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERN  DON. 

(lowing  a  life  of  unmixed  blessings  to  his  fellows  and  of  assured 
immortality  to  himself.  Our  deprivations,  as  recipients,  of  those 
so  much  esteemed  and  coveted  blessings,  are  full  enough  to  prompt 
our  natures  to  arise  in  rebellion  thereat,  and  to  deplore  a  calamity  so 
calamitous.  But  the  comforting  unction  conies  in  soothing  bene 
dictions  to  our  aching  hearts,  imbuing  them  with  the  consoling  as 
surance,  that  our  temporary  loss  has  been  his  eternal  gain.  And 
while  the  loss  mav  weaken  the  ties  of  earth,  the  gain  will  more 
than  correspondingly  strengthen  the  attractions  of  Heaven. 

Dour,  beauteous  Doatli,  the  jewel  of  the  just! 

Shining  nowhere-  but  in   the  dark; 
What  mysteries  <lo  lie  beyond  thy  dust, 

Could  mail  outlook  that  mark! 

That  Mr.  HKRXPON'S  career,  should  have  unfolded  a  life  glow 
ing  with  the  inborn  inspirations  of  a  lofty  genius,  rich  in  its  inci 
dents  and  exhibitions  of  all  the  elements  of  innate  and  high-born 
manhood,  and  fruitful  in  its  manifold  feats  of  paramount  useful 
ness  and  signal  honors,  can  be  no  matter  of  surprise  to  the  least 
thoughtful. 

That  he  should  have  inherently  scorned,  loathed,  and  repulsed, 
everything  unbecoming,  low,  or  mean  ;  that  lie  should  have  en 
ticingly  led  his  fellow-man  by  precept  and  example  onward,  up 
ward,  and  steadfastly  in  all  that  was  noble,  grand,  and  true,  none 
who  knew  him  would  not,  could  not  gainsay. 

That  he  should  have  been  one  to  whom  mankind,  in  unsolicited 
choice,  cheerfully  and  cordially  tied  in  the  closest  bonds  of  unself 
ish  friendship,  unreserved  confidence,  and,  as  was  so  apparent  to 
them,  without  the  semblance  of  any  hazard  whatever  to  their  con 
fided  trusts,  is  too  plain  not  to  be  seen  by  all. 

That  he  should  have  been  one  deeply,  lastingly  beloved  by  his 
people,  should  have  been  their  special  pride,  the  apple  of  their  eye, 
the  gem  of  their  hearts'  citadel,  and  should  have  been  exalted  and 
honored  by  them  with  lavishing  hands  and  with  fond  delight, 
should  not,  could  not  excite  any  wonder. 

That  he  should  have  been  a  cherished  and  finished  ornament  to 
society,  one  ever  welcomed  to  its  gay  and  festive  midst  by  the 


AlHUtKSS  OF  Mil.    WILLIAMS,  OF  ALABAMA.  47 

alive  with  the  warmth  of  fond  hearts  alone;  that  he 
should  have  been  a  lawver  of  unquestioned  eminence,  a  warrior  of 
unchallenged  heroism,  and  a  statesman  of  enlarged  resourees,  re- 
-•iimTs  coextensive  with  his  growing  country's  increasing  and  vast 
demands,  none  can  doubt.  That  his  good  name  should  have  been 
(steemed  and  <leereed  by  his  people,  and  those  who  eame  truly  to 
know  him,  as  a  jewel-coined  synonym  of  the  J^eautiful  and  bright, 
the  brave  and  true,  who  could,  if  ho  would  dare,  deplore? 

That  this  endeared  name  is  thus  enshrined  and  scntried  in  the 
hearts  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  his  own  loved,  flowery  land  of 
rest,  a  land  whose  interest  and  honor  it  was  his  pride  and  delight 
jealouslv  and  /ealously  to  guard  on  this  floor,  as  one  of  her  cheer- 
fullv  accredited,  unboundedly  intrusted  Representatives,  their  en 
tire  united  voice  from  her  mountains;  to  his  own  orange-grove  sea 
board,  promptly  would  declare;  that  he  should  have  IK-CII  a  eiti/en 
of  prominence  in  living  up  to  the  lull  requirements  of  the  law, 
undauntedly  maintaining  on  all  occasions  the  majesty  and  suprem 
acy  of  its  mandates;  that  he  should  have  been  an  endeared  and  an 
endearing  friend,  a  devoted,  affectionate,  and  tender  husband,  a 
loving,  kind,  and  honored  father,  needs  no  affirmance  from  any 
one  whatever. 

That,  though  absent,  he  never  will  be  forgotten  by  those  favored 
with  his  acquaintance  or  blessed  with  his  friendship;  that  though, 
alas!  alas!  dead,  his  memory  will  never  cease  to  be  treasured  hv 
them,  and  with  increased  and  increasing  fondness  therefor;  that 
though  the  gravo,  so  beautifully  defined  as  the  footprint  of  angels, 
for  the  time  may  hide  from  us  all  that  was  mortal  of  our  dear 
friend  and  brother,  and  yet  that  we  shall  IK-  permitted  to  see  him 
again,  arc  all  divinely  bottomed  intendments  and  glorious  expec 
tations,  we  most  confidently  entertain.  Their  realization  and  en- 
jovment,  may  l>e  called  in  question,  doubted  or  denied:  but,  if  so, 
it  will  hail  from  those,  and  from  those  only,  who  in  their  hearts 
have  said  "  There  is  no  (iod." 

If  a  star  were  confined  into  a  toinli, 

H«T  captive  (lame  must  needs  burn  there; 

Hut  \\lien  the  hand  that  Ineked  her  up  «jave  room, 

She'd  shine  through  all  the  sphere. 


48     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

Within  man's  mortal  tenement  burns  a  captive  flame,  lit  up  by 
the  same  infinite  hand  that  enkindled  "all  the  constellations  that 
gem,  like  a  diadem,  night's  brow."  The  beams  of  intelligence, 
ever  emitting  from  that  immortal  flame,  go  ont  in  quest  of  nature's 
mysteries,  as  they  sport  in  their  contemplations  amid  the  beauties, 
relations,  distances,  and  orbits  of  the  glittering  host  marshaled  on 
the  nightly  plains,  and  eagerly  seek  to  know  more  of  the  source 
of  their  own  Promethian  fire.  These  fugitive  beams,  eluding  the 
fetters  of  an  irksome  confinement,  and  with  a  speed  in  their  flight 
unknown  to  electricity,  bound  to  the  outer  circle  of  the  remotest  of 
those  orbits.  Even  though  disallowed  the  divine  pre-eminence 
whereon  Israel's  great  leader  stood,  when  he  viewed  the  landscape 
o'er,  nevertheless,  if  guided  by  the  light  of  the  Star  of  Bethlehem, 
as  they  survey  tlie  limitless  domain  of  space  spread  out  before 
them,  they  may  see  through  a  glass  darkly  into  Jehovah's  pre 
emption  area,  wherein  His  children  arrived,  arriving  and  home 
ward  bound  will  find  mansions  prepared  for  them  upon  his  eternal 
camping  ground. 

How  oft  recalled  to  our  contemplations  is  it  as  a  melancholy 
fact,  that  the  flowers  we  so  tenderly  nurture  and  so  much  enjoy  in 
their  fragrant  array  of  unsurpassed  glory,  that  the  objects  unceas- 
inirly  caressed  by  our  love's  fondest  affections  and  joyfully  afforded 

O      »/  */  V        9f  * 

favored  niches  within  the  temple  of  our  hearts  as  idols  of  our  life's 
devotion,  all  had  the  seed  of  death  implanted  within  them  when 
those  of  life  were  quickened  into  existence.  But,  sir,  in  our  musings 
thereon,  how  important  that  we  fathom  with  earnestly  inquiring 
thought  deep  down  into  the  philosophy  therefor,  would  we  content 
edly  learn  and  consolingly  realize,  why  all  earthly  pleasures  and 
treasures  of  the  heart  are  so  transitory  and  fleeting. 

When  thus  fathomed  and  comprehended,  we  cannot  fail  to  recog 
nize  in  them  witnesses  of  Almighty  God,  whose  testimony  is  sure, 
making  wise  the  simple;  whose  evidence,  disregarding  all  perad- 
venture,  wisely  institutes  and  promulgates,  as  an  anchoring  convic 
tion  of  the  heart,  the  momentous  truth  that  our  Maker  never  in 
tended  this  earth  as  man's  abiding  place.  We  hear  it  proclaimed 
on  every  hand  that  nothing  dies  but  in  fulfillment  of  His  omnis- 


,!/>/>/;/»  in    MI;.   it  I  I.LI. t  MS,  OF  ALABAMA.  49 

y  established  decrees,  while  by  His  divino  agency  we  alike 
Bee  and  know  its  place  is  at  once  resopplied  with  newness  of  life. 

Throughout  all  nature  these  reproductive  links  have  l>een  coin 
ing  in  continuous  order  from  creation's  dawn, and  will  so  transpire 
until  the  hand  that  suspended  this  earth  in  the  orbit  of  its  exist 
ence,  and  concentrated  upon  its  prepared  bosom  the  creative  power 
of  II is  own  omnipotent  will,  shall  withdraw  it  therefrom.  In  man 
alone,  has  He  breathed  the  inspiration  to  look  with  confident  hope 
l>eyond  the  dissolution  of  his  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle,  and 
to  know  that  he  has  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  In  his  decay,  step  by  step,  as  he 
descends  to  the  grave,  Faith  illumes  with  extended  and  extending 
ken,  and  Hope  invigorates  with  increased  and  increasing  brightness, 
the  grand  truth  embraced  by  Charity  with  unyielding  devotion, 
that  with  those  wisely  prepared  therefor,  to  be  absent  from  the  body, 
is  to  IK:  present  with  the  Lord. 

For  this  cause,  though  the  outward  man  is  perishing,  vet  will 
the  inward  man  be  renewed  day  by  day.  When  thus  reverent Iv 
understood  and  spiritually  realized,  death  becomes  the  unfolding 
door  of  entrance  upon  renewed,  increased,  and  increasing  vitality, 
wherein  mortality  is  swallowed  up  of  life.  Through  the  thresholds 
of  this  unclosed  door,  open  and  to  remain  open  for  the  reception 
of  the  last  pilgrim  of  the  human  race,  will  continue  to  pass  those 
more  than  golden  links  in  the  countless  strand  of  the  family  of  hu 
manity,  among  whom  will  shine  with  a  luster  not  of  earth,  a  luster 
inherited  and  reflected  alone  from  the  face  of  their  Divine  Master, 
those  of  our  race,  ransomed,  purified,  and  redeemed,  by  His  atoning 
grace.  This  onward  march  to  the  source  of  all  good  will  never 
halt,  until  it  shall  have  encircled  and  environed  to  the  full  measure 
of  His  own  divine  purpose,  the  supreme  throne  of  our  Heavenly 
Father. 

In  accordance  with  His  own  eternal  decrees,  the  last  pilgrim  of 
earth  will  have  then  passed  through  and  closed  forever  behind  him 
the  door  of  death,  and  will  have  been  added  to  that  grand  army, 
enlisted,  marshaled,  and  encamped  upon  the  Klysian  fields  of  His 
unending  glory. 

4  HE 


50     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

We  stand  in  the  midst  of  the  progress  of  this  startling,  mo 
mentous,  and  solemnly  eventful  existence,  mingling  therewith  while 
borne  upon  its  resistless  currents  to  those  near  and  nearing  tran 
scendent  changes. 

Clad  in  the  livery  of  our  dearest  esteem,  affection,  and  love  for 
onr  so  much-missed,  lamented  brother,  and  planted  within  the  in 
spired  circle,  reflected  from,  and  lined  by  the  crowning  halo  of  the 
immortal  genii  of  our  devotion,  we  proclaim  it  here  and  now,  and 
with  a  resolve  which  shall  know  no  varying,  or  the  shadow  of 
change,  that  God  being  onr  helper,  we  will  go  to  onr  brother. 

Pie  that  hath  found  some  fledged  bird's  nest  may  know, 

At  first  sight  if  the  bird  be  flown  ; 
But  what  fair  field  or  grove  he  sings  in  now, 

That  is  to  him  unknown. 

And  yet  as  angels,  in  some  brighter  dreams, 

Call  to  the  soul  when  man  doth  sleep, 
So  some  strange  thoughts  transcend  our  wonted  themes, 

And  into  glory  peep. 


Address  of  Mr.  RANDALL,  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  There  are  men  whose  lives  have  been  so  rue 
and  gentle  that  the  exaggerated  language  of  eulogy  is  rendered 
unnecessary,  and  for  whom  the  simple  recital  of  duty  bravely  done 
and  noble  purposes  carried  out  without  fear  or  favor  is  their 
most  eloquent  obituary.  Of  such  was  the  late  THOMAS  H.  HERN- 
DON,  of  Alabama.  Of  spotless  personal  character,  with  mental 
faculties  cultured  and  self-poised,  with  courage  equal  to  his  con 
victions,  yet  in  the  ordinary  business  of  this  House  he  was  modest, 
unassuming,  and  affable  until  principle  was  at  stake  and  right  was 
to  be  sustained,  and  then  no  rock  was  more  firmly  rooted.  The 
denunciations  of  enemies,  the  seductions  of  interested  parties,  and 
the  blandishments  of  power  were  equally  unavailing  to  move  him 
from  the  position  he  took  after  careful  consideration. 

He  was  my  friend,  and  none  had  a  truer  one.  And  such  friend 
ship  is  a  consolation  beyond  all  power  of  words  to  depict.  It  is 
the  solace  and  support  of  men  who  try,  however  feebly,  to  pursue 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  RAXDALL,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.  51 

the  course  which  they  Iwilieve  to  IHJ  just  and  proper.  It  is  easy 
and  delightful  to  do  the  wishes  of  (hose  who  would  aggrandi/e 
tlu'ir  fortunes  from  the  public  Treasury,  or  to  grant  inonoplies  to 
those  already  too  powerful,  while  on  the  contrary  to  battle  in  l>e- 
half  of  the  rights  of  the  many,  which  are  ever  absorbed  by  the  few 
unless  prevented  by  ceaseless  vigilance,  brings  unstinted  abuse  and 
the  most  cruel  misrepresentation,  and  all  the  more  unjust,  because 
it  is  deliberately  done.  I  fit  were  not  for  the  companionship  and 
warm-hearted  help  and  confidence  of  men  from  every  section  and 
of  all  parties,  men  like  Mr.  HEUXPOX,  the  vexation  and  labor 
of  public  life  would  be  unendurable. 

The  men  who  appear  most  conspicuously  in  our  public  pro 
ceedings  arc  not  always  the  l>est  legislators.  There  arc  those  who 
work  earnestly  and  noiselessly,  attentive  and  watchful,  too  faith 
ful  to  themselves  and  their  constituents  to  decide  without  the 
fullest  information,  ami  who  are  a.s  steady  to  the  principles  they 
profess  as  the  needle  to  the  pole,  and  who  moreover,  on  the  great 
field-day  when  wrong  is  to  be  routed  and  right  made  victorious, 
are  always  to  l>c  found  in  the  ranks  ready  to  do  and  dare  to  the 
utmost.  Such  a  legislator  and  such  a  friend  was  Mr.  HEHXPOX. 

I  feign  no  stately  sorrow  on  this  occasion.  I  sincerely  mourn 
for  one  I  esteemed  deeply.  In  coming  into  this  Hall  I  miss  the 
bright  glance  and  hearty  welcome  of  a  true  friend.  There  have 
vanished  the  refinement  and  courtesy  of  a  genial  and  worthy  as 
sociate.  Something  has  dropped  from  the  comfort  of  my  daily 
life  which  cannot  easily  be  replaced. 

Alabama  has  sent  to  Congress  men  of  surpassing  eloquence,  and 
others  who  have  won  the  highest  positions  on  the  floor  of  this 
House  and  in  the  other  Chamber,  but  none  of  them  left  behind 
them  the  memory  of  a  purer  life,  a  sounder  public  record,  or  a 
sweeter  character  than  Mr.  HEUXPOX.  Such  memories  are  the 
undying  glory  of  every  commonwealth,  and  are  a  valuable  incent 
ive  to  honest  ambition  everywhere. 

The  resolutions  wen1  then  unanimously  adopted,  and,  in  accord 
ance  therewith,  the  House  adjourned. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  SENATE. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

April  14,  1881. 

A  message  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  John  H.  Clark, 
jr.,  its  Clerk, communicated  to  the  Senate  the  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  Hon.  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON,  late  a  Representative-elect  to  the 
House  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  transmitted  the  resolutions 
of  the  House  thereon. 

Mr.  PUGH.  I  ask  that  the  resolutions  may  lie  on  the  table,  on 
account  of  the  absence  of  Senators  who  desire  to  make  remarks 
UJMIH  the  resolutions.  1  give  notice  that  I  shall  not  call  them  up 
for  action  by  the  Senate  until  4  o'clock  on  Friday  next. 


APRIL  18,  1884. 

Mr.  MORGAN.  I  move  that  the  resolutions  from  the  House  of 
Representatives  commemorative  of  the  death  of  Mr.  HKRNDON  l>e 
laid  Ix.'fore  the  Senate. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER  (Mr.  Ingalls  in  the  clutir).  The  Secre 
tary  will  read  the  resolutions  at  length. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OK  REPRESENTATIVES,  April  \'Z,  1*84. 

Rt*uh'ed,  That  this  House  has  heard  with  deep  regret  of  the  death  of  Hon. 
THOMAS  H.  HEKNIMJX,  late  a  Representative-elect  to  this  House  from  the  State 
of  Alabama. 

Rewired,  That  an  a  testimony  of  respect  to  his  memory  the  officers  and  mem- 
liersof  this  House  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  the  space  of  thirty 
days. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  bo  transmitted  by  the  Clerk  of  this 
House  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  be  directed  to  communicate  a  copy  of  these  proceed 
ings  to  the  Senate ;  and  that,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased,  this  House  do  now  adjourn. 

53 


54     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

Mr.  MORGAN.  Mr.  President.  I  offer  resolutions  which  I  usk  may 
be  read. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  The  resolutions  will  be  read. 
The  Chief  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Rcxolvcd,  That  the  Senate  shares  with  the  House  of  Representatives  in  its  ex 
pressions  of  sorrow  at  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  H.  HEHNDON,  lately  a  Repre 
sentative  in  that  body  from  the  State  of  Alabama. 

Rewired,  That,  as  a  mark  of  sympathy  toward  the  family  of  the  deceased,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Senate  will  transmit  to  them  a  copy  of  these  proceedings.  • 


Address  of  Mr.  MORGAN,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  After  our  friends  have  passed  away  it  is  a 
grateful  privilege  to  commemorate  their  virtues,  and  to  draw  from 
the  history  of  their  lives  the  lessons  which  teach  us  how  to  emulate 
them  in  their  good  deeds  and  aspirations.  It  is  not  often  that  a 
man  has  departed  beneath  the  meridian  sun  of  life  whose  taking  off 
has  left  a  deeper  sorrow,  or  has  deprived  society  of  a  more  beloved 
friend  and  the  country  of  a  wiser  or  more  useful  citizen  than 
THOMAS  II.  HERNDON.  To  say  that  he  was  endeared  to  all  who 
knew  him  is  only  to  express  their  confidence  in  the  purity  of  his 
life  and  in  his  fidelity  to  all  good  principles,  and  to  repeat  toward 
the  departed  the  earnest  friendship  which  he  inspired  by  his  noble 
and  generous  bearing,  and  which  he  extended  to  every  good  man 
with  cordial  sincerity.  He  was  a  native  of  Alabama,  born  at  Erie 
on  the  1st  July,  1828,  when  the  State  had  been  but  nine  years  in 
political  existence.  He  was  educated  chiefly  by  Professor  Tut- 
wiler,  a  great  teacher  and  a  man  of  the  highest  worth,  and  after 
ward  took  his  degree  in  the  University  of  Alabama.  He  was  a 
representative  in  the  legislature  for  several  terms,  was  a  delegate 
to  the  secession  convention  in  1861,  and  served  with  distinction  in 
the  civil  war  in  command  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Alabama  Regiment. 
Afterward  he  was  elected  thrice  in  succession  as  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  and  died  while  in 
the  service  of  his  State  as  a  member  of  Congress. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MORC.AN,  OF  A  LA  HAM  A  55 

This  is  a  good  record  in  its  outline,  and  .sj>eaks  eloquently  of  the 
public  confidence  he  enjoyed  during  all  his  manhood,  and  it  was 
filk-d  ii])  in  all  the  stages  of  his  public  service  with  conscientious 
diligence,  and  with  honest,  faithful,  wise,  and  able  counsels,  that 
greatly  benefited  the  country  and  added  much  to  the  influence  and 
reputation  of  Alabama.  He  was  the  dutiful  and  loving  son  of 
Alabama — a  proud  and  noble  mother.  His  ashes  are  at  rest  in  her 
bosom,  and  his  memory  is  in  her  sacred  keeping.  His  last  sick 
ness  was  very  protracted  and  wearing,  but  he  quietly  and  patiently 
confronted  death,  for  months  together,  without  the  least  agitation 
of  spirit,  and  with  a  degree  of  confidence  and  cheerful  resignation 
that  made  his  sick-chamber  a  place  of  attraction  more  than  of 
grief  to  his  anxious  friends.  He  was  not  a  stoical  philosopher, 
but  of  broad  and  enlightened  Christian  faith.  Those  who  gathered 
around  him  in  his  long  suffering  were  deeply  moved  as  they  wit 
nessed  how  he  was  attended  during  every  moment  with  a  tender 
ness  and  gentle  devotion  that  it  would  be  rudeness  to  describe 
here,  which  makes  the  better  side  of  life  radiant  with  beauty  and 
lovely  with  its  excellence. 

His  mental  composure  and  strength  of  will  never  yielded  to  the 
depressing  influences  which  left  him  physically  prostrate  after  long 
months  of  severe  illness;  and  his  mind  was  so  clear  and  vigorous 
that  he  was  able  to  give  useful  advice  to  his  colleagues  respecting 
public  affairs  in  which  he  took  great  interest  while  in  the  daily  ex 
pectation  o£  death.  When  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  adjourned 
he  was  ready  to  go  home  and  die,  but  not  until  then.  He  rallied 
all  his  remaining  powers  to  the  task  of  returning  to  his  native 
land  that  he  might  yield  up  his  spirit  in  Alabama,  his  beloved 
home.  Consecrated  in  every  affection  of  his  nature,  Alabama  re 
ceived  him  with  the  grief  of  a  stricken  mother.  I  am  proud  to 
accept  this  man  and  his  life  and  character  as  the  true  type  of  a 
native  Alabamian. 

Colonel  HKIJNDON  inherited  the  qualities  which  compelled  him 
to  the  highest  and  noblest  aspirations;  and  his  lineage  and  the 
surroundings  of  his  youth  directed  his  thoughts  and  his  ambition 
toward  the  service  of  his  country  in  the  maintenance  of  the  con- 


56  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  'I'/fQMAS  TL  HERNDON. 

stitutional  rights  of  the  people.     This  was  a  labor  of  love  with 
him  in  which  he  never  faltered  or  grew  \vearv. 

A  chivalrous  spirit  inherited  from  honorable  ancestors,  and  de 
voted  to  the  holy  cause  of  justice,  is  something  that  lifts  up  the 
people  to  a  proper  conception  of  their  dignity  and  power  in  a 
Government  like  ours.  In  this  sense  Colonel  HERXDON  was  a 
chevalier  without  reproach.  He  served  his  State  as  one  who  loved 
its  people  and  was  jealous  of  its  honor.  He  had  many  peers,  but 
none  were  more  truly  noble.  In  the  many  severe  battles  of  the 
civil  war,  from  which  he  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life,  but  with 
wounds  of  which  he  at  last  died,  he  left  numbers  of  his  peers  and 
comrades  dead  on'  the  field.  At  Chickamauga  he  received  his 
summons  to  an  early  death.  His  comrades  were  a  glorious  host 
of  the  true  men  of  the  South  whose  fame  is  still  more  illustrious 
now  that  he  has  again  joined  them.  As  the  years  recede  they  are 
not  forgotten.  Their  memory  is  still  precious  to  the  hearts  of 
millions  of  people,  and  their  heroism  becomes  more  impressive  in 
its  grateful  and  romantic  interest  to  the  new  generations  as  they 
arise.  Tears  still  well  up  in  the  dimmed  eyes  of  their  surviving 
comrades,  whose  bosoms,  though  chilled  with  age  and  penury,  still 
grow  warm  with  love  as  their  tongues  whisper  the  praises  of  their 
heroic  dead.  Rivers  and  mountains  and  plains,  baptized  with  their 
blood,  have  become  the  enduring  landmarks  of  their  fame,  and 
will  forever  commemorate  their  deeds  of  honor. 

It  is  fitting  that  I  should  describe  briefly  the  characteristics  of 
the  people  who  found  a  true  and  worthy  representative  in  THOMAS 
H.  HEKNDON.  Their  qualities  gave  tone  and  strength  to  his  man 
hood,  and  he  was  thus  in  every  sense  their  representative.  The 
attractions  of  a  fresh  and  beautiful  country  acquired  from  the  In 
dian  tribes  drew  to  Alabama  in  the  early  days  of  its  history  a 
large  number  of  people  from  all  the  Atlantic  States,  from  Massa 
chusetts  to  Georgia.  They  were  mainly  of  the  classes  who  had 
means  to  purchase  the  best  lands  in  considerable  bodies,  and  had 
the  fortitude  to  endure  the  hardships  of  a  pioneer  life.  In  such 
communities  are  usually  found  great  enterprise  and  intelligence, 
and  much  of  native  ability  and  independence  of  character,  and 


AHDBESS  OF  MR.  MORGAN,  OF  ALABAMA.  57 

these  are  safe  foundations  upon  which  to  build  all  social  and  polit 
ical  institutions. 

With  the  assistance  of  slave  lalxir  the  work  of  reducing  the  wil 
derness  to  cultivation  was  rapidly  accomplished,  and  the  land  was 
s|Miedily  covered  with  productive  farms  and  many  of  the  public 
conveniences  which  are  netrssary  to  a  prosj>orous  people. 

The  people  thus  drawn  together  were  largely  composed  of  the 
I  letter  classes  from  the  older  States,  having  letl  behind  them  the 
prejudices  and  peculiarities  they  may  have  adopted  in  their  earlier 
lives.  The  country  rapidly  acquired  wealth,  and  with  it  the  peo 
ple  had  leisure  for  mental  improvement,  for  indulgence  in  agree 
able  pursuits  and  diversions,  and  for  the  cultivation  of  their  tastes. 
Their  homes  were  not  pretentious  in  architecture  or  in  ornamenta 
tion.  They  preferred  the  beautiful  forest  trees  and  flowers  in 
their  ample  grounds  to  costly  decorations  or  splendid  mansions. 
It  was  not  unusual  to  find  in  the  newly  opened  farms  a  cosy  log- 
house,  surrounded  with  rough  fences,  but  convenient,  roomy,  and 
comfortable,  furnished  with  elegance  and  taste,  and  provided  with 
every  appliance  to  make  home  pleasant  and  attractive.  The  wives 
and  daughters  of  these  families  took  great  pride  in  dispensing  a 
generous  hospitality  with  elegance  and  grace.  They  were  saved 
from  much  of  the  drudgery  of  ordinary  domestic  work,  and  had 
leisure  to  devote  to  social  duties  and  to  their  mental  improvement. 
Thev  were  happy  in  their  homes  and  reflected  their  happiness  on 
others.  The  wealth  of  these  new  communities  was  only  great 
enough  to  give  them  leisure  for  useful  reflections,  and  to  stimulate 
them  to  rivalry  in  the  education  of  their  children  and  in  self-im 
provement,  without  affording  them  the  means  or  the  inducement 
to  idleness  or  the  indulgence  of  a  love  of  ease.  They  were  active 
and  efficient  workers,  in  full  sympathy  with  the  vigorous  growth 
and  prosperity  of  the  country;  and  the  comfort  of  their  families 
was  an  object  that  engaged  their  most  earnest  care. 

Alxwe  all  else  they  valued  the  sacred  character  and  the  holy  mis 
sion  of  woman,  and  in  this  resjK'ct  the  reward  of  their  honorable 
sentiments  was  reali/ed  in  the  highest  degree.  Their  sons  were 
found  cajiable  of  any  sacrifices  which  duty  and  honor  required,  and 


58  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  R.  HERNDON. 

were  proud  their  lineage.  They  rejoiced  in  their  families  and  homes, 
where  their  sisters  and  mothers  were  honored.  A  sense  of  duty 
and  a  sentiment  of  honor  deeply  rooted  in  the  affections  of  the  home 
circle  are  the  surest  guarantees  to  society  and  to  the  State  of  the  in 
tegrity  and  fidelity  of  any  man.  It  is  in  this  way  that  their  chaste 
regard  for  social  duty,  their  love  of  home  and  family,  their  devout 
faith  in  Christianity,  their  zeal  for  the  excellent  results  which  only 
the  truth,  and  grace,  and  moral  strength  of  woman  can  create  in 
society,  have  so  deeply  impressed  the  benignant  influence  of  woman 
upon  the  character  of  the  Southern  people  that  these  blessings  will 
remain  with  them  to  the  latest  generations. 

It  was  among  this  class  of  people  that  the  mother  of  THOMAS  H. 
HERNDON  was  found.  A  descendant  of  the  Toulmins  of  England, 
she  inherited  the  qualities  which  caused  her  ancestors  to  seek  an 
asylum  in  America  from  religious  persecution  in  England,  prefer 
ring  the  hardships  of  voluntary  exile  in  the  wilderness  to  ease  and 
comfort  at  the  expense  of  liberty  of  conscience. 

In  the  first  dawn  of  his  manhood  the  beautiful  guiding  light  of 
his  whole  life  shone  upon  him.  He  married  a  young  girl  who  was 
descended  from  Abram  Alexander,  the  president  of  the  Mecklen 
burg  convention,  which  declared  the  independence  of  North  Caro 
lina,  in  May,  1775.  The  faith  of  her  great  ancestor  in  the  justice 
of  the  cause  of  American  Independence  was  repeated  in  the  faith  of 
this  gentle  wife  in  the  cause  in  which  her  husband  made  a  sacrifice 
of  his  fortune  and  finally  of  his  life.  The  president  of  the  Meck 
lenburg  convention  transmitted  to  his  descendants  those  heroic  qual 
ities  which  led  him  to  espouse  and  to  abide  by  a  cause"  which  was 
sacred  to  him,  although  it  was  denounced  as  treason  from  the  throne 
of  Great  Britain.  His  great-granddaughter  was  not  less  true  or 
heroic  than  he  was  in  her  devotion  to  a  cause  that  she  espoused, 
and  yet  she  was  not  more  devoted  to  her  principles  than  were  mill 
ions  of  the  women  of  the  South,  among  whom  there  was  no  dis 
senting  opinion  and  no  diversity  of  sentiment  during  the  terrors  of 
the  civil  war.  They  were  the  soul  of  the  Confederacy. 

On  his  father's  side  Colonel  HEKNDON  was  descended  from  a 
family  distinguished  for  abilities  and  integrity  of  character.  Thus 


AIWKESS  OF  MR.  GlliSOy,  OF  LOUISIANA.  .VJ 

it  is  apparent  that  in  knowing  the  people  that  he  represented  in  his 
linage, and  among  whom  liis  eliaraeter  was  formed,  we  know  him. 
Their  blood  coursed  in  his  veins,  giving  strength  to  his  principles, 
courage  to  his  soul,  breadth  to  his  intellect,  l>eauty  and  grace  to  his 
manly  form,  gentleness  to  his  spirit,  elevation  to  his  sentiments, 
and  steadfastness  to  his  devotion  to  duty.  His  earnest  and  ever- 
ready  response  to  the  noble  impulses  which  this  rich  tide  imparted 
to  his  thoughts  and  feelings  made  him  a  typical  son  of  the  South. 

Colonel  HKUNDON'S  high  sense  of  honor  kept  him  always  true 
in  his  conduct  to  his  convictions  of  duty.  When  he  was  in  the  se 
cession  eon  vent  ion  of  Alabama  and  in  the  Confederate  army,  no 
man  was  more  faithful  than  he  was  to  the  cause  in  which  he  wus 
enlisted.  When  he  again  resumed  his  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  his  fidelity  to  that  Government  was  true  and  heartfelt.  He 
was  incapable  of  deception,  and  would  never  have  accepted  an  at 
titude  toward  the  United  States  that  would  have  caused  him  the 
least  embarrassment  in  the  faithful  service  of  that  Government. 
He  was  always  honest,  and  therefore  he  was  always  true. 

His  acquaintance  was  very  extensive,  but  it  was  not  wider  than 
that  atmosphere  of  warm  and  appreciative  affection  which  pervaded 
all  classes  of  people  to  whom  he  was  known. 

A  soldier;  a  scholar,  a  jurist,  a  statesman;  a  Christian,  genuine, 
true,  faithful,  and  devout,  he  is  entitled  to  the  honors  which  the 
American  Senate  are  now  awarding  to  his  memory.  But  in  the 
more  endearing  character  of  friend  and  comrade,  the  silent  tribute 
of  a  tear  moistens  the  eye  of  the  grateful  poor  and  steals  down  the 
bron/ed  cheek  of  the  warrior  to  utter  higher  praises  than  we  can 
embody  in  resolutions.  "  Let  him  rest  in  peace,  for  he  has  nobly 
earned  his  high  reward." 


Address  of  Mr.  GIBSON,  of  Louisiana. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  The  interesting  sketch  which  has  been  pre 
sented  by  the  Senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Morgan]  of  the  life 
and  public  services  of  the  late  THOMAS  H.  HKHNDOX  informs  us 
that  he  enjoyed  unusual  opportunities  for  education  and  for  moral 


60     LIVR  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

and  social  discipline  and  that  he  filled  many  positions  of  public 
honor  and  responsibility. 

Born  in  Hale  County,  Alabama,  July  1,  1828,  educated  at  the 
University  of  the  State,  he  had  hardly  completed  the  study  of  the 
law  in  the  University  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  entered  his  pro 
fession  before  he  embarked  in  public  life.  He  was  a  representa 
tive  in  the  General  Assembly  and  a  trustee  of  the  University  of 
Alabama,  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention,  a  major,  lieu 
tenant-colonel,  and  colonel  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and  the  can 
didate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  the  governorship  of  the  State 
in  1872;  again  a  member  of  a  constitutional  convention  and  of  the 
general  assembly  of  the  State,  he  was  finally  elected  to  be  a  Repre 
sentative  from  the  First  Congressional  district  in  the  Forty-sixth, 
Forty-seventh,  and  Forty-eighth  Congresses,  but  he  did  not  live 
to  take  his  seat  in  the  Forty-eighth  Congress. 

His  honors  survived  him.  He  was  called  away  from  a  loving 
fireside  and  associations  most  dearly  prized,  from  a  confiding  con 
stituency,  from  the  enjoyment  of  every  favor  of  fortune,  and  from 
the  performance  of  great  public  trusts,  while  in  the  meridian  of 
life  and  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers,  while — 

Hope  elevates,  and  joy 
Brighteiis  his  crest. 

Come  when  it  may  to  the  young  or  old,  the  inevitable  and  uni 
versal  summons  must  always  impress  us  with  the  profound  mystery 
of  life  and  death,  the  uncertainty  of  humanity;  but  whenever  I 
behold  a  strong  man  fall  midway  his  journey,  arrested  at  the  very 
moment  when  earthly  rewards  and  honors  were  being  reaped  and 
when  his  usefulness  was  greatest  to  his  fellow-men,  I  can  only  re 
peat  again  and  again  the  mournful  exclamation  of  Burke  over  his 
dead  son,  "What  shadows  we  are;  what  shadows  we  pursue!" 

I  was  his  comrade  and  friend  in  the  Southern  army  and  his  as 
sociate  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  I  trust  therefore  I  may 
be  pardoned  if  I  take  this  opportunity  to  pay  a  passing  tribute  to 
his  memory  and  to  give  utterance  to  my  deep  sorrow  at  his  un 
timely  death. 

It  can  not  be  said  that  Mr.  HERNDON  had  achieved  a  national 
reputation  as  a  statesman  or  that  he  has  left  a  name  illustrious  in  the 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  GIBSON,  OF  LOUISIANA.  61 

<>f  Inter-,  philosophy,  science,  or  war;  yet  in  many  rcsjK'cts 
he  was  a  remarkable  man  and  in  all  an  admirable  one. 

Throughout  his  whole  lite  he  appeared  rather  to  avoid  than  to 
attract  public  attention,  and  though  possessing  profound  eonvic- 
ions,  earnestness  of  purpose,  and  a  noble  ambition,  he  shunned  all 
mere  parade  and  the  pursuit  of  distinction  as  an  object.  His 
watchword  was  duty,  and  the  practice  of  self-denial  and  manly 
imxlesty  was  a  part  of  his  nature.  The  superficial  observer  would 
have  said  that  he  was  too  undemonstrative  and  reserved,  too  little 
of  a  self-seeker  and  flatterer,  too  little  schooled  in  the  arts  of  the 
vulgar  politician,  too  independent  and  frank,  ever  to  obtain  or  to 
hold  the  favor  of  the  public;  that  he  was  not  sufficiently  sensa 
tional  and  the  "hail  fellow  well  met "  to  go  before  the  people. 
But  here  we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  man  who  from  the  bottom  of 
his  heart  despised  all  wire-pulling,  all  machine  politics,  all  clap 
trap,  who  was  self-contained  and  self-respecting,  yet  won  and  held 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Alabama. 
No  man  was  more  esteemed,  none  more  beloved.  The  record  of 
his  services,  covering  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years,  discloses  the 
fact  that  there  were  ties  of  a  lasting  character  binding  the  deceased 
to  the  people  among  whom  he  lived. 

Upon  what  foundation  did  they  rest?  What  was  the  secret  of 
his  power?  It  was  not  because  he  possessed  the  gift  of  popular 
oratory,  for  while  he  spoke  always  with  fullness  and  clearness  and 
force,  many  others  far  less  esteemed  surpassed  him  in  the  ability 
to  sway  the  masses  of  the  people  or  select  audiences  with  the 
splendors  and  charms  of  their  eloquence. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  that  it  was  owing  to  his  achievements  as  a 
soldier,  for  while  these  were  creditable  and  brilliant  they  were 
confined  within  circumscribed  and  narrow  limits,  while  -many 
others  less  beloved  than  he  performed  exploits  that  have  linked 
their  names  to  imperishable  renown. 

You  cannot  ascribe  it  altogether  to  his  robust  common  sense, 
his  sound  judgment,  his  zealous  attention  to  daily  tasks  and  en 
gagements,  to  his  qualifications  and  accomplishments  as  a  lawyer, 
to  his  rectitude  and  public  spirit,  nor  to  his  well  known  fidelity  to 
friendships,  for  these  were  qualities  possessed  by  hundreds  who 


62     LIFE  ANT)  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

failed  to  make  any  ijiipression  whatever  upon  the  public  consid 
eration. 

To  what  then  can  we  attribute  his  popularity  and  usefulness  as 
a  public  man?  It  is  true  that  his  intellectual  endowments  com 
manded  respect,  but  the  source  of  his  superiority  is  to  be  found  in 
the  resources  of  a  matchless  character.  In  this  respect  he  had  few 
equals  and  no  superiors.  Representative  and  typical  of  the  better 
elements  and  aspirations  of  the  people,  he  was  their  cherished  favor 
ite,  for  they  saw  in  him  the  finished  product  of  the  civilization — 
the  moral  and  intellectual  forces  of  the  society  which  they  com 
posed.  For  it  may  be  said  that  as  a  general  rule  public  men  are 
the  logical  expressions  of  the  tone  and  temper,  the  outgrowth  of 
the  local  conditions  and  habits  and  culture  and  institutions  of 
the  people,  and  indicate  their  characteristics  and  qualities  as  surely 
as  certain  plants  and  fruits  and  trees  do  particular  soils  and  cli 
mates. 

His  family  had  emigrated  from  about  Fredericksburg,  a  part  of 
the  Old  Dominion  which  has  been  prolific  in  men  celebrated  for  all 
the  virtues  that  adorn  human  nature  as  well  as  polished  manners 
and  intellectual  accomplishments.  They  belonged  to  the  country 
people  of  Virginia  who  have  given  to  the  world  names  that  com 
mand  its  admiration  and  homage.  But  of  those  who  composed  that 
remarkable  class  how  many  there  were  who  neither  sought  nor 
would  accept  public  stations,  but  were  content  to  remain  on  their 
plantations  pursuing  their  daily  avocations  and  contributing  to 
the  welfare  of  their  neighborhoods;  distinguished  alike  for  their 
fondness  for  classical  learning,  their  hospitality,  a  certain  reserve 
and  stateliness  of  manner  and  high  moral  standards — men  who 
have  left  their  impress  upon  country  life  throughout  the  South,  the 
George  Washingtons  and  the  George  Masons  of  private  life,  whose 
virtues  fertilized  the  soil  from  which  these  great  characters  sprung 
and  made  of  Virginia  in  some  sense  what  Ithaca  was  to  Ulysses — 

A  rough,  wild  nurse-laml,  but  whoso  crops  arc  men. 

Inheriting  traditions  so  elevating  and  representing  a  people  them 
selves  intelligent,  brave,  and  virtuous,  how  could  he  prevaricate  or 


ADDRESS  OF  HfK.  GIRSOX,  OF  LOUISIANA.  t'tl\ 

:itt(iupt  t«  dnvivc  or  descend  to  subterfuge  or  play  the  demagogue 

or  betray  any  trust  or  fail  of  duty  any  where  or  his  name  IHJ  less 
than  what  it  was — the  synonym  for  honor. 

The  country  ean  never  forget  the  magnificent  example  of  heroic 
devotion  to  duty  left  by  his  kinsman,  Capt.  William  Louis  Hern- 
don,  who  sacrificed  his  own  life  to  save  the  passengers  of  the  ill- 
fated  steamer  the  Central  America,  which  went  down  in  a  terrific 
gale  on  our  coast  in  1857.  It  will  In1  remembered  with  what  me 
thodical  care  and  cool  intrepidity  he  made  all  the  arrangements  for 
the  safety  of  the  passengers,  insisting  that  the  women  and  children 
should  he  rescued  first  and  then  the  other  passengers  and  finally 
the  crew,  and  how  at  last  when  the  foundering  ship  had  l>ccome 
unmanageable  and  was  about  to  be  ingulfed,  and  it  was  apparent 
that  all  must  instantly  perish  and  his  men  besought  him  to  aban 
don  her  and  to  save  himself  for  the  sake  of  his  wife  and  children, 
his  brave  spirit,  deaf  to  all  entreaties,  heard  above  the  roar  of  the 
tempest  the  call  of  honor  and  duty,  and,  ol>eying,  met  death  like 
a  martyr. 

Col.  THOMAS  H.  HERNDOX  had  a  spirit  equally  unselfish  and 
courageous.  I  well  remember  during  the  evacuation  of  the  lines 
near  Spanish  Fort,  in  Mobile  Bay,  in  the  closing  hours  of  the  civil 
war,  the  commander  called  for  volunteers  for  a  perilous  service, 
and  that  Colonel  HERXDOX  came  forward,  and  in  a  quiet  and 
modest  manner  offered  to  Undertake  the  duty,  and  performed  it 
with  such  skill  and  heroism  that  he  saved  the  lives  of  hundreds  of 
his  comrades,  a  duty  the  performance  of  which  could  bring  no  eclat, 
no  public  distinction,  no  governmental  rewards,  and  that  appeared 
to  involve  the  certain  loss  of  his  own  life.  I  doubt  if  he  ever  al 
luded  to  the  circumstance.  Such  was  the  man  !  His  whole  char 
acter  may  IMJ  summed  up  in  one  word.  He  was  a  gentleman,  respect 
ing  all  the  ties  of  life,  honoring  all  its  obligations,  and  knowing  no 
fear  but  the  fear  of  God.  He  realized  all  our  ideas  of  an  Ameri 
can  gentleman  called  from  the  walks  of  private  life  into  the  public 
service,  bringing  with  him  that  exquisite  sensibility,  that  genuine 
benevolence,  that  genial  tolerance,  that  scorn  of  deceit  and  vulgar 
ity,  that  brave  devotion  to  principle  which  characterized  the  good 


64     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERN  DON. 

people  who  upheld  and  honored  and  loved  him  as  their  represent 
ative,  and  by  whom  they  were  themselves  honored.  He  was  the 
embodiment  of  that  ideal  character  drawn  by  the  matter  hand  of 
Geoffrey  Chaucer  over  five  hundred  years  ago  : 

A  knight  ther'was,  and  that  a  worthy  man, 
That  from  the  tyme  that  he  ferst  bigan 
To  ryden  out,  he  lovede  chyvelrye, 
Trouthe  and  honour,  fredom  and  curtesie. 

***** 

And  though  that  he  was  worthy  he  was  wya, 
And  of  his  port  as  meke  as  is  a  mayde, 
He  never  yit  no  vilonye  ue  sayde, 
In  al  his  lyf,  unto  no  inauer  wight. 
He  was  a  veray  parfit  gentil  knight. 


Address  of  Mr.  JONES,  of  Florida. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  The  imperfection  of  human  language  is  so 
great  that  even  on  ordinary  occasions  and  subjects  we  all  feel  that 
we  cannot  give  expression  to  our  thoughts  and  feelings.  I  never 
felt  so  keenly  the  poverty  of  speech  as  I  do  to-day.  My  heart  is 
so  full  of  the  memories  of  the  good  man  whose  untimely  death 
has  been  just  officially  announced  in  the  Senate  that  I  cannot  say 
half  that  I  feel  about  him. 

THOMAS  H.  HERNDON  was  my  warm  personal  friend  long  be 
fore  cither  he  or  I  came  to  Washington  in  an  official  character.  I 
am  aware  that  occasions  like  this  are  often  employed  to  speak  of 
virtues  and  character  officially.  The  service  that  I  perform  to 
day  is  not  an  official  or  lip  service;  it  comes  from  my  heart.  Mr. 
HERNDON  and  I  lived  very  near  to  each  other.  A  surveyor's 
line,  a  few  miles,  and  separate  State  organization,  were  all  that 
separated  us.  Occasionally  he  came  to  the  bar  at  my  home  and 
more  frequently  I  went  to  the  bar  at  his.  If  there  is  anything 
that  tests  the  quality  of  true  friendship  it  is  the  intercourse  of 
professional  life. 

The  professional  man  who  shows  to  the  world  that  he  is  above 
that  littleness  of  mind  and  heart  which  makes  some  men  incapa- 


I />/>/,' />N  <>!•'  Ml;.  ./o.Y/X   OF  l<'f,0!tlD.t.  65 

ble  of  according  tu  other-*  the  credit  which  is  due  to  tlicm  for  their 
t;il( nt-  ;iiid  worth  i-  the  possessor  of  great  and  uncommon  virtue. 
Mr.  UKUXDON  was  a  man  of  great  generosity,  high  character,  and 
extrusive  attainments.  In  the  city  in  which  he  lived,  one  of  the 
litivmost  in  the  South,  he  was  beloved  by  evervl)ody  for  the  purity 
of  his  private  life,  his  eminent  professional  ability,  as  well  its  for 
the  broad  conservative  principles  which  he  adhered  to  after  he 
entered  public  life.  He  was  a  man  of  genuine  convictions  and 
high  sense  of  honor,  and  I  do  not  think  that  he  ever  cast  a  vote 
or  made  a  speech  that  did  not  emanate  from  his  heart  and  with 
the  sole  purpose  of  advancing  the  interests  of  his  country.  He 
had  few  of  the  qualities  of  a  trained  politician.  He  was  a  man 
who  would  never  act  an  insincere  part  to  gain  favor  in  any 
quarter. 

He  often  said  to  me  when  here  that  there  was  much  about  pub 
lic  life  that  was  distasteful  to  him  because  he  found  that  it  was 
difficult  for  a  mind  like  his  to  conform  to  political  methods  and 
to  do  all  that  usage  had  sanctioned  to  win  popular  applause.  In 
his  intercourse  with  his  fellow  men  he  was  modest  and  unobtru 
sive,  and  so  perfectly  conscious  was  he  at  all  times  of  the  purity 
of  his  own  character  and  the  integrity  of  his  principles  that  he 
made  no  effort  to  impress  them  upon  the  minds  of  others. 

He  did  not  belong  to  that  class  of  public  men  who  suddenly 
build  themselves  up  by  sensations  and  little  methods  and  then  fall 
to  pieces  by  the  weight  of  their  own  dullness  and  incapacity  as 
soon  as  they  become  known.  His  was  the  slow,  steady  but  certain 
growth  which  always  follows  the  exertions  of  real  character  and 
merit;  and  had  health  and  life  permitted  him  to  develop  his  fine 
abilities  in  the  field  of  politics,  he  would  have  occupied  a  position 
in  the  councils  of  the  country  that  would  have  given  strength, 
courage,  and  power  to  all  those  who  labor  to  infuse  dignity, 
wisdom,  independent  spirit,  impartial  and  temperate  judgment,  as 
well  as  genuine  patriotism,  into  the  administration  of  the  affairs 
of  government. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  in  all  the  relations  of  life, 
private,  social,  professional,  and  political,  Mr.  IlKii>'PO>"  was  one 
5  HE 


66     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

of  the  best  men  I  ever  knew.  He  was  a  scholar  without  affecta 
tion  or  pedantry;  a  Christian  without  intolerance  or  bigotry  ;  a 
lawyer  upright  and  fearless,  ever  commanding  the  confidence  of 
the  court,  and  who  was  never  known  to  neglect  or  betray  the  in 
terests  of  a  client.  The  loveliness  of  his  domestic  life  was  only 
equaled  by  the  purity  of  his  professional  and  political  character. 
He  had  strong  convictions  as  a  party  man,  but  they  were  never 
exhibited  in  undignified  or  intemperate  disputation.  He  was 
always  true  to  the  principles  of  his  party,  but  they  never  carried 
him  far  enough  to  prevent  him  from  doing  full  justice  to  those  who 
differed  from  him.  I  have  in  my  memory  an  instance  ol  his  im 
partiality  and  the  freedom  of  his  character  from  all  taint  of  that 
littleness  and  hate  which  too  often  spring  from  party  differences. 
It  is  only  the  man  of  real  brain  and  heart  that  knows  how  and 
where  to  draw  the  line  which  separates  private  worth  and  integrity 
from  party"  principles  and  responsibility. 

When  an  appointment  was  to  be  made  to  a  great  judicial  office 
from  among  the  leading  Republicans  of  the  country  I  remember 
my  deceased  friend  coming  here  from  his  business  and  his  home  to 
give  his  personal  testimony  of  the  worth  and  character  of  the  per 
son  who  was  finally  appointed,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
latter.  "  Go  with  me,"  he  said  to  me,  "  to  official  quarters ;  tell 
them  who  I  am,  so  that  I  can  speak,  after  long  experience  at  the 
bar  over  which  this  gentleman  presides  as  a  judge,  of  his  great 
ability,  integrity,  and  purity  of  character."  The  moral  of  this 
ought  not  to  pass  without  observation.  It  is  this  :  That  after  all 
that  has  been  said  touching  the  treatment  of  United  States  officers 
in  the  South,  whenever  a  gentleman  is  sent  tlxere  he  never  fails  to 
inspire  confidence  and  receive  justice.  Long  before  either  Mr. 
HEENDON  or  myself  contemplated  entering  the  field  of  politics 
we  were  professional  friends  and  often  engaged  together  at  the  bar. 
He  was  the  most  conscientious  lawyer  I  ever  knew.  He  would 
not  address  an  argument  to  a  court  unless  he  had  the  clearest  con 
viction  not  only  of  the  justice  but  of  the  law  of  the  case. 

I  was  once  his  associate  in  an  admiralty  cause  before  the  United 
States  circuit  court  of  Alabama.  The  equity  of  the  case  was  clearly 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JONES,  OF  FLORIDA.  67 

with  our  client.  who  was  the  victim  of  a  gross  fraud  about  to  be 
consummated  and  carried  through  the  forms  of  law.     [n  arranging 
about  the  argument  ho  said  to  me,  with  great  emotion,  "The  jus 
tice  and  right  of  the  ease  is  clearly  with  us,  but  I  have  great  doubt. 
in  regard  to  the  legal  principle  for  which  yon  contend,  and  while 
I  will  assist  you  in  every  way  in  my  power  I  must  leave  the  argu 
ment  to  you."     We  gained  the  wise  Ix'fore  a   full   court.     "  You 
never  could  have  succeeded,"  said  he.  "  unless  you  were  before  a 
court  that  had  the  courage  and  justice  to  follow  the  example  of 
Ixml  Mansfield  who,  putting  aside  the  hard  principles  of  the  com 
mon  law,  declared  that  he  never  would  permit  a  trustee  to  recover 
in  ejectment  against  h\8(X§tu/i  qite  truxt  in  possession  of  the  estate." 
Mr.  President,  my  poor  offering  to  the  memory  of  THOMAS  IT. 
IlKUXix)X  this  day  is  not  what  I  could  wish  it  to  be.      Had  I  the 
language  of  a  Webster  or  Choate  T  could  not  do  justice  to  my  feel 
ings  for  the  memory  of  this  honest,  true   man.     I  have  seen  too 
much  of  the  hollowness,  the  treachery,  the  insincerity  of  the  human 
heart  not  to  hold  in  proper  estimation  the  character  of  the  deceased. 
The  House  of  Representatives  has  had  and  now  has  many  men  better 
known  to  the  world  for  long  public  service  and  showing  of  talents 
than  my  departed   friend  ;  but,  sir,  neither  that  bodv  nor  this  at 
any  time  in  our  history  had  a  member  who  in  all  the  high  quali 
ties  of  genuine  manhood  was  the  superior  of  the  deceased.     I  do 
not  speak,  of  course,  about  intellectual  powers,  for  it  is  well  known 
that  a  bright  mind   and   a   rotten  heart   have  often    been    found 
together,  but  I  speak  of  those  great  moral  qualities  which   make 
friendship  steadfast  and  enduring,  charity  boundless,  religion  toler 
ant,  politics  respectable,  human  nature  itself  worthy  of  its  Divine 
Creator.     It  matters  not  where  such  a  man  is  born,  his  home  is 
the  universe ;  responsive  sympathies  and  open  arms  and  warm 
hearts  will  greet  him  in  every  clime.     And  when  death  ends  his 
earthly  career  and  he  enters  into  a  better  and  happier  life  beyond 
the  grave  the  ministering  angels  around  the  throne  of  God  kneel 
in  solemn  heavenly  reverence  and   pay  homage  to  his  labors  and 
virtues  as  his  soul  passes  the  awful  portals  of  eternity. 


o8  LIFE  AND  CHAEACTFAi  OF  THOMAS  U.  HKRNDON. 


Address   of  Mr.  PUGH,  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  custom  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress 
claims  a  suspension  of  our  duties  to  the  living  that  we  may  pay 
our  last  sad  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  dead.  This  is  a  mourn 
ful  duty  to  all  of  us,  and  to  me  it  is  especially  painful.  My  recol 
lection  of  THOMAS  H.  HERN  DON  is  so  fresh  I  have  not  yet  been 
able  to  realize  the  melancholy  fact  that  he  is  gone  from  us  forever. 
My  relations  with  him  had  grown  to  be  so  intimate,  cordial,  and 
confiding  it  will  take  a  long  time  to  efface  from  my  memory  the 
impression  that  he  still  lives.  How  often  are  we  reminded  by  the 
appearance  of  the  merciless  Destroyer  "  what  shadows  we  are  and 
what  shadows  we  pursue."  And  yet  we  press  on,  grasping  these 
shadows  as  if  they  were  priceless  jewels,  and  making  our  prepara 
tions  to  live  as  if  our  earthly  existence  were  immortal. 

What  a  striking  illustration  is  furnished  in  this  delusion  of  the 
beautiful  truth  that  "  we  are  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made." 
How  utterly  blind  and  helpless  we  feel  when  confronted  as  we  are 
every  moment  of  our  existence  by  the  bewildering  mysteries  of  our 
creation.  If  we  had  been  so  constituted  as  to  be  able  to  understand 
the  delusive  and  unsatisfying  nature  of  all  the  earthly  objects  of 
our  desires,  aspirations,  and  pursuits,  and  had  been  made  capable 
of  accepting  and  acting  upon  the  truth  as  it  really  is  in  the  begin 
ning  of  our  lives,  who  could  comprehend  or  imagine  the  effects  of 
such  a  radical  change  in  our  capacity  and  knowledge  upon  our 
lives  and  destinies?  No  higher  wisdom  could  have  been  shown  in 
the  visible  works  of  creation  than  is  seen  in  the  wonderful  perfec 
tion  of  the  adaptation  of  material  elements  and  objects  to  our 
wants  and  aspirations  and  in  the  unchangeable  affinities  existing 
in  the  mysterious  and  incomprehensible  combinations  of  mind  and 
matter.  How  unwilling  we  are  to  accept  the  undeniable  truth 
that  disappointments,  reverses,  failures,  trials,  sorrows,  and  trou 
bles  of  all  kinds  are  inseparable  from  our  existence^  because  they 
are  indispensable  agencies  and  influences  employed  in  the  execution 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  PUCH,  OFALAHAMA.  69 

of  immutable  laws  and  the  consummation  of  the  designs  of  an  all- 
wise  Providence. 

These  reflections  remind  us  that  there  is  a  philosophy  in  life 
and  death  that  furnishes  more  or  less  consolation  and  compensa 
tion  to  alleviate  our  sorrows  and  reconcile  us  to  our  losses.  Every 
human  life  is  a  history,  and  in  that  of  our  lamented  friend,  which 
has  l)cen  portrayed  with  so  much  force  and  fidelity  by  mv  col 
league,  there  is  everything  to  love  and  admire  and  nothing  want 
ing  in  qualities  or  action  that  a  longer  lease  of  life  could  have 
supplied  to  make  a  character  more  deserving  our  commemoration. 
I  never  knew  a  more  perfectly  organized  man  than  THOMAS  II. 
HKRNPOX.  There  were  remarkable  uniformity  and  harmonv  in 
all  his  faculties.  His  natural  endowments  have  been  excelled  in 
degree  but  not  in  quality,  and  their  combination  made  an  extra 
ordinary  man.  lie  was  kind,  gentle,  polite,  liberal,  and  unselfish. 
He  had  a  keen  sense  of  right,  justice,  honor,  and  duty,  supported 
by  strong  convictions  and  affections  and  unfaltering  courage  and 
manhood.  His  powers  of  thought  were  remarkable  for  activity, 
clearness,  and  accuracy. 

His  natural  gifts  were  developed  and  greatly  improved  and  em- 
Ix-llished  by  educational  cultivation  and  acquirements,  and  by  up 
right  and  honorable  living  and  intercourse.  His  most  conspicuous 
traits  were  strong  convictions,  sound  judgment,  spotless  integrity, 
scrupulous  sense  of  duty,  and  faultless  manhood.  These  quali 
ties  established  him  above  suspicion  in  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  every  person  who  knew  him  personally  or  by  reputation.  He 
was  social,  genial,  and  refined  in  his  intercourse  with  all  classes, 
and  enjoyed  from  the  beginning  of  his  manhood  merited  popu 
larity  with  the  people  under  whose  scrutiny  and  with  whose  sup 
port  he  grew  to  distinction.  As  a  friend  he  was  always  true  under 
any  trial.  As  a  citizen  he  was  exemplary,  public  spirited,  and 
useful.  No  man  was  ever  happier  in  his  domestic  relations.  As 
a  husband  and  parent  he  was  kind,  indulgent,  and  affectionate. 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  efficient,  faithful,  and  successful.  As  a  rep 
resentative  in  the  legislature  of  his  native  State  and  in  the  consti 
tutional  convention  of  IHTS  and  in  the  other  House  of  Congress 


70     LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  H.  HERNDON. 

he  devoted  all  his  powers  of  mind  aud  heart  to  the  honor,  rights, 
interest,  and  welfare  of  his  constituents.  As  a  Confederate  officer 
and  soldier  he  verified  on  many  battle-fields  the  highest  qualities 
of  manhood  and  patriotism.  In  his  protracted  illness  and  suffer 
ings  and  in  full  view  of  certain  death  his  heroic  nature  maintained 
its  supremacy  and  suppressed  all  proof  that  death  had  any  sting 
or  the  grave  any  victory. 

I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of 
the  resolutions  submitted  by  the  senior  Senator  from  Alabama 
[Mr.  Morgan]. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to  unanimously. 

Mr.  MORGAN.  I  submit  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  THOMAS  II. 
HKKNDON,  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to  unanimously,  and  ihe  Senate  ad 
journed. 

O 


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